Breakdance Buddies
by 12AngryMen
Summary: Despite his warm reception at U.A., Izuku stills feels like a bit of an outcast. Beyond a love of heroes, he doesn't really have many interests he shares with his classmates. But after a chance encounter with Mina, he begins to share her passion for a very unexpected hobby. And as the two become friends, they will learn there's something else they share a fondness for.
1. Not What it Looks Like

Another day, another Izuku/Mina story. If you're a returning reader, hope you'll enjoy this like my other works. If you're new, welcome! I hope you'll stick around. Anyway, let's get into it.

* * *

It was a typical Sunday afternoon at the prestigious U.A. Being a day off for classes, the grounds were much quieter than they were the rest of the week. However, that didn't mean the place was abandoned; several of the school's staff members worked weekends, as some facilities remained open despite there being no class. For example, Gamma Gym didn't lock its doors on Sundays, offering both students and staff a place to exercise and train. While anyone affiliated with U.A. was allowed to utilize the gym, of course, it was primarily students in the school's famed hero program that took advantage of the extended hours.

Izuku Midoriya was one such student.

Standing just outside the entrance to the renowned academy, the aspiring hero took a deep breath. It had been about two weeks since he first stepped onto these sacred grounds, yet he always got anxious before crossing this threshold. He had spent most of his life dreaming of the day he'd be a part of this school, and for most of that time he was convinced that day would remain nothing more than a dream. How could he not, after discovering he had been born without a Quirk?

And yet, he had never given up. No matter how impossible the odds, no matter how much others tried to tell him otherwise, that Quirkless boy kept dreaming. And after a fateful encounter with the one and only All Might, his perseverance had been rewarded. That dream had actually become a reality.

Every time he arrived at this gate, Izuku was reminded of all of this. Even now, he could hardly believe he was actually here.

With a single, deliberate step, the he passed through the gate, swelling with pride as he did. A simple gesture for most, but even now it meant the world to him.

With his little ritual out of the way, the once-Quirkless boy began heading for Gamma Gym. As he walked, he noticed there were a surprisingly high number of faculty members walking around the campus. Someone actually stopped him, asking to see his school ID. He obliged, of course, and was allowed to proceed.

"U.A's serious about upping security…" He thought out loud. These people wouldn't have been here two weeks ago; they were a direct response to the attack on U.A. by a nefarious group of villains.

An attack Izuku and his class had been directly involved in.

He shuddered as he thought back to that horrific day. It had only been his fourth day of classes. He had barely had his Quirk for a _week_ before he was thrust into a life-threatening situation. While things turned out okay in the end (thanks to All Might, of course), the fact that the so-called "League of Villains" managed to breach the school's formidable security systems attracted a lot of attention from the media.

While they had failed to kill All Might like they had planned, Izuku still couldn't help but feel the villains hadn't truly lost. The invasion itself, and the fact that it had clearly been planned for some time, sent enough of message on its own.

And it was a message U.A. had responded to in full.

Naturally, the school's security was upgraded to prevent an incident like that from repeating itself. However, there was also a reaction from the students as well.

Class 1A had seen what real villains were like firsthand. While they had managed to hold their own for a while, and they had earned quite a bit of respect for that fact, the fact was that they now fully understood the seriousness and danger of the profession they were all pursuing. They had experienced the gap between themselves and the pros, and they could see just how wipe that gap truly was.

None of that discourage a single one of them, of course. Rather, it bolstered their resolve and had pushed them all to work even harder than before.

This was especially true for Izuku. He was already at a severe disadvantage compared to everyone else, due to the circumstances surrounding his Quirk, and had already been (literally) breaking himself just to keep up. But after seeing just how helpless he was against the League's leaders, he was more determined than ever to get stronger. He had been trusted to wield the #1 hero's Quirk, and he intended to demonstrate that that trust had been well-placed.

That's why the current wielder of One for All was here at school on his day off. He couldn't let himself fall behind.

…Though admittedly, it was also because he didn't exactly have anything better to do.

Izuku sighed as he arrived at the gym. While a lot had changed since the day he met All Might, his social life had more less remained stagnant. While he had managed to actually make a couple friends at U.A., he still wasn't exactly close to them. Uraraka, Iida, Tsuyu… He appreciated their company, and he knew they appreciated his, but… None of them had really done anything outside of school. A lot of that had to do with how busy they all were with coursework as well as his friends' personal lives. Tsuyu and Uraraka's family situations meant they had to be home a lot, and Iida wasn't exactly the type to just goof off with friends.

Of course, it didn't help that Izuku was still pretty awkward in social situations. On top of that, he didn't exactly have any hobbies… Unless you counted his obsessive note-taking, or his somewhat unhealthy love of All Might merchandise.

Yeah, he was sure the others would want to hear all about that stuff.

Entering the rather large facility, Izuku wondered how he could break out of the wall he had built around himself over the years. He finally had friends, and even the people in his class he didn't know well were treating him kindly. If he was going to be a hero anywhere near the caliber of All Might, he would need to get more comfortable dealing with people.

 _Especially_ girls. Seriously, he hated how easily he fell apart when Uraraka or Tsuyu talked to him. It was kind of pathetic.

Deciding to stop dwelling on the subject for now, the green-haired boy shifted his focus to the task at hand. He had come here to train, and he needed to figure out the best way to go about it.

* * *

Setting the weights back in their appropriate spots, Izuku exhaled loudly. He had decided to focus on strength training for today, hoping the more he improved his body, the more control he would have over the immense power of One for All. Having just completed a few sets of reps, he decided to take a quick break.

Seeing his water bottle was nearly empty, the aspiring hero got up to find a fountain to fill it. He noticed a few other students working out as he walked, though he didn't recognize any of them. They must have been from the other courses; after all, it wasn't just heroes that liked to exercise.

"I wonder if the pros ever train here?" He asked himself. Gamma Gym had top-notch equipment for all manners of training, whether it be a standard workout, combat practice, improving Quirk technique, and more. It would make sense for some of U.A's teachers to take advantage of that.

As he thought about how pros might train, a faint sound in the distance caught Izuku's attention. Stopping to listen, he quickly realized it was music.

"Huh?" It wasn't uncommon to see people workout with headphones or something, but this was obviously different.

From the distance he was at to wherever the music was playing from, the only thing the confused boy could clearly make out was the fairly heavy beat of the song. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed the sound.

Walking down a few halls, it wasn't long before he found the source of the rather catchy song.

"…Oh, that makes sense."

He was standing in front of a door labeled "Dance Studio". From the other side of the door, the music played at a fairly high volume.

"Is there a class or something?" Izuku decided to take a quick peek through the door's square window.

His jaw dropped at what was inside.

Rather than a class, there was a single person in the studio. A very familiar, very pink person.

"A…Ashido?" Izuku was not surprised to see Mina Ashido on the other side of the door. What he _was_ surprised by was what she was doing. He had seen people dance before, of course, but this…

It was incredible.

His pink-skinned classmate was on what appeared to be a flattened cardboard box. Her "dancing", if it could even be called that, was one of the most, if not _the_ most intense dances Izuku had ever seen. She was putting her entire body into it, twisting and turning it in ways the slack-jawed boy didn't think were possible.

One second, was on the floor, supporting all her weight on just one hand. The next, she was handspringing back onto her feet. Suddenly she was on her back, spinning in place as she straightened her body out upside down until her only point of contact to the ground was her head… But she was still spinning.

These insane stunts were broken up with more simple leg movements, though even those were full of energy as the girl's feet went every which way. Yet while the maneuvers seemed spastic and random, there was a clear intent and rhythm to it all.

Izuku knew Mina was a fairly athletic person, but this… The amount of strength, flexibility, and coordination this all must have required… And she made it look so effortless!

He hadn't been watching for more than 20 seconds before his notebook was out and his pen was moving. He was honestly only half-aware of what he was writing. He was entranced by this bizarre dance he had never seen before. It was like art.

The display only lasted a few more minutes before the pink performer stopped to rest. She looked, unsurprisingly, quite exhausted. How could she not, after all that?

However, her stopping her routine made Izuku come back to reality. And it only took mere moments before he realized exactly what he was doing.

He had just spent the last several minutes more or less spying on someone through a window, scribbling furiously into a notebook the whole time.

And that someone was a girl.

…

Izuku felt blood rushing to his face as he realized how bad this looked. Backing away from the window, he rapidly glanced around, praying to All Might that nobody had been watching him. Fortunately, it seemed he was safe.

God, what _was_ that just now? He had gotten completely lost in the dance, and now he just felt like a creep for peeping on Mina like that.

…Still, it was a very impressive display. A very Mina display, too; while he didn't know his acid-wielding classmate that well, he at least knew she could be a very extreme person, putting all her energy and emotion into just about everything she did. It was quite admirable; she had an intensity that reminded him of All Might in a few ways.

"Enjoying the show?"

A feminine voice made Izuku's blood turn to ice. Eyes bugging out, he slowly turned his head.

Mina was standing there, hands on her hips with an eyebrow raised. He had been so distracted by his own thoughts that he hadn't heard the door open.

A strange, gargling noise escaped Izuku's mouth as he attempted some form of communication. From the sound of things, the somewhat annoyed-looking girl had noticed his presence some time ago. Why hadn't he considered that fact? Why had he just assumed she was too focused on her dancing to see his face pressed up against the window!?

Mina said something else, but he didn't hear it. In the terrified teen's mind, this was a life-or-death situation, and his fight-or-flight response was starting to kick in.

Naturally, he decided to go with the latter of those two options.

Without a word, the red-faced boy bolted off in the other direction as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he needed to get away. _Far_ away.

* * *

Mina was actually a little startled when Izuku suddenly sprang to life, letting out a shriek before taking off like a rocket. She didn't even have time to call out his name before he was out of sight.

"…Ooookay." The perplexed pinkette stared at where Izuku was for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Weird."

Mina had decided to use some of her day off to practice her breakdancing. Due to the fact that she tended to blast her music when dancing, she had opted to find somewhere her tunes wouldn't be an annoyance to anyone. Plus, she kind of preferred practicing in private. It helped her focus better.

Breakdancing served multiple functions for the horned girl. Not only was it a fun way to work out, it was how she liked to relieve stress. A way for her to cope with the mountains of school work she had been putting off, as well as the somewhat traumatizing villain attack that happened at school last week.

That day had been a real wakeup call for Mina. Dealing with actual villains made her better understand what was going to be expected of her as a hero one day. It was why she had decided to come here on her day off rather than laze around the house.

As she turned to go back into the studio, something on the ground caught the girl's eye. Looking down, she let out a small laugh.

Izuku's notebook was resting on the floor. Evidently, he had dropped it while fleeing.

"Oh boy," she muttered as she picked the object up off the ground. The number "15" was written on the front of; given how much she had seen the book's owner write stuff down, she had to assume this meant he had _at least_ 14 other full ones.

To be frank, Mina barely knew Izuku. She could count the number of times they had spoken on one hand, and she'd have fingers to spare. While she tried not to think badly of anyone, one couldn't deny that the guy was, well, _weird_.

For starters, he pretty much never spoke outside of answering class questions. And when he did speak, it was often because he was freaking out about something ultimately mundane or rambling to himself under his breath. And again, he seemed to _constantly_ be writing stuff in his notebooks, even outside of class. Heck, even his Quirk was weird. Immensely powerful, yet even a single use of it shattered his bones. Honestly, the fact that he was able to still stay conscious and keep a straight face after some of the battles he'd been in was nothing short of amazing.

But the strangest thing about him was how his personality seemed to do a complete 180 at times, such as that fight he had with Bakugou on their second day of class. He would randomly show this much bolder, more confident side of him in spurts, only to go back to his usual self in the blink of an eye.

Mina just couldn't figure him out. It wasn't like she disliked the guy or anything, she just found him a bit strange. But then again, everyone in their class could be considered a bit strange, so she didn't think much of it. Plus, he did seem to have friends, which was good.

She didn't really know what to think when she saw him suddenly appear in the window just a few minutes ago. For a moment, she just thought he had just heard her music and was investigating. But when he lingered, she got a bit confused. That confusion turned to slight worry when she noticed that he was scribbling something in his notebook. Was it dirty art? Was Izuku secretly a massive pervert like Mineta or something?

Again, she didn't like to think bad of people, but…

Still, despite being a little weirded out by his writing or drawing or whatever it was, she ignored it until the song stopped. Perhaps he was just waiting for her to stop, then talk to her?

But no. He actually hid when the song stopped… Or at least tried to. It seemed stealth wasn't Izuku's strong suit, as Mina saw his hair poking out of the corner of the window. After waiting another minute or two, she decided he was acting suspicious enough to be confronted.

To be honest, she wasn't exactly surprised by his reaction.

As walked back into the studio, the curious girl considered the notebook in her hands. On one hand, she felt it was a little insensitive to go flipping through what could very well have been the equivalent of a diary. But on the other hand, he had been using it while "spying" on her, and she felt like she deserved to know what he had put in it.

"Just a quick peek," she decided before opening the book. At first, she merely skimmed the pages, trying to see if there was anything on her. However, after a few page turns, she found herself slowing down and reading everything more carefully.

Her quick peek soon turned into a full-on reading.

The notebook was almost entirely filled with various little snippets and details about dozens of heroes. Mt. Lady, Best Jeanist, Gang Orca, Endeavor… The list went on. Unsurprisingly, a huge chunk of the book was taken up by All Might, who was clearly Izuku's favorite hero. Accompanying all these notes were smell sketches of the various heroes, complete with little annotations about their costumes and anatomy. Pages were packed with information about Quirks, fighting styles, personalities… And with them, ideas on how to utilize all this information. Techniques to borrow from, philosophies to follow, strategies to take lessons from…

"…Woah."

This guy lived, breathed, slept, and ate heroes. While part of Mina found it a bit off-putting just how much time and effort had been spent on this, she was mostly just impressed. Izuku had probably taken more notes in the first half of this book than she had in her entire time at middle school… And this wasn't even for class!

Things got even crazier, though, when she turned to the page that had some familiar faces. Bakugou, Uraraka, Iida… There were sections for everyone in their class here. He had left a lot of blank space between each student, and something told her she had every intention of filling it all at some point. One could consider it creepy, sure, but the stuff in here was rather endearing. It seemed the shy boy admired everyone in the class, with several entries commenting on how cool their Quirks were, or how he could learn from something they did. She double checked some of the girls' sections to see if he had written or drawn anything risqué, but she found nothing of the sort.

Finally, she got to the part she was looking for.

"Mina Ashido…" She mumbled as she read aloud.

At first, it seemed like all the others. Notes about her Quirk, a few comments on her general attitude (Mina took a little offense to the part that said "seems to not be concerned about her grades?"), combat style, things like that.

However, there was a section written with what was clearly at a different point near the bottom. The handwriting was a bit cruder than the rest, as if it was being more hastily written. Along side it were some small sketches of stick figures in poses Mina was very familiar with.

It was all about her breakdancing. And boy, the things he had to say.

A smile crossed the pink girl's lips as she read. The part was written with more… Emotion. Rather than detailed observations about a technique, he had simply written stuff such as…

"That was so cool!"

"How does she spin like that?"

"WOW!" This one was written above a stick figure standing on its head with an arrow indicating it was spinning.

Grinning from ear to ear, Mina shut the book. Tomorrow was going to be _fun_.

* * *

And there's the first chapter. Mostly just set-up and establishing where we are in the timeline, and how our stars feel about each other from the beginning. And before anyone mentions it, I am aware this kind of sort of happens much later in the canon. That's actually where the idea came from.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the introduction. For anyone new who has an interest in this ship, I invite you to check out my other works. And so I don't just look like a selfish shill, I'll also recommend DominoMags and QuirkQuartz for tons of Izuku/Mina goodness (Though if you like the ship and haven't seen their stuff, I'd be a bit surprised). There's also stories from authors TruWarrior, Scandanavian Sensation, Eternal Love Song… I'm sure I'll think of others to shout out later. See you next time!


	2. An Invitation

Welcome back! Here's another chapter for you all.

* * *

Once again, Izuku stood before the gates of U.A., hesitating to pass through. However, this time it wasn't a sense of awe and wonder that gave him pause. No, this time it was dread.

His encounter with Mina yesterday was still fresh on his mind. The sheer terror he had felt when she revealed she had seen him watching her that whole time lingered in his heart, and it wasn't going away anytime soon. He hadn't gone back to try to apologize or explain himself, of course. No, he just ran away as far and as fast as possible. By the time he calmed down enough to think clearly, he had actually left the campus.

It wasn't until the distraught boy got home that he realized the notebook he had been using was missing. Realizing he must have dropped it when fleeing the scene had only amplified his anxiety. No doubt Mina had found it and read through it.

Needless to say, Izuku had not slept well that night. Between his creepy staring and odd notes, Mina must have thought he was crazy. And she didn't seem like the sort of person to keep things to herself.

What would everyone else think of him when she told them what happened? Nothing good, obviously. And why would they, after what he did?

He had been tempted not to come in to class today, but the fear of him losing what little social life he had was ultimately trumped by his sense of duty. He couldn't afford to miss a single day here, after all.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he finally stepped forward, making his way to the academy itself.

Upon entering his classroom, Izuku felt the slightest hint of relief. Mina hadn't arrived yet, meaning he was safe for at least a few more moments. If he was lucky, she wouldn't show up until class had already started. Ideally, she just wouldn't come in to school at all, but that was not a likely prospect. Showing up late, though? Well, given the number of times Aizawa had yelled at her about it…

Greeting his classmates that were there, Izuku found his seat and began getting out the materials for his first class. As usual, he was pretty early, so he had some time to burn.

It didn't take long for the anxiety to return in full force. Gluing his eyes to the door, Izuku felt more and more tense the longer he sat there. What would happen when Mina walked through that door? Would she immediately call him out in front of everyone? Would she just come up and slap him or something?

Or maybe, by some miracle, she'd actually give him a chance to explain?

Mina seemed to be a nice enough person, but given how she – and every other girl in the class – tended to react to Mineta's… Antics, something told Izuku she wouldn't be so lenient with him. She hadn't exactly looked happy to see him yesterday, after all. Not that he blamed her; it did look _really_ bad. He had just been so drawn in by her… What was it called, breakdancing?

At some point after getting home yesterday, Izuku's curiosity about the dance he had witnessed overpowered his embarrassment over the whole situation, and he had decided to do some research. It didn't take long to discover the name of the dance he had witnessed, and he spent a good chunk of time learning all about it.

Why he was so enamored by it all was anyone's guess. Izuku hadn't danced a single time in his life, mostly due to an extreme lack of confidence. But there was something about seeing how much passion Mina had put into it that just spoke to him. She had put her all into it, and then some; a very "Plus Ultra" style of dance.

A small part of him wanted to try it for himself, but he knew that was a terrible idea for a number of reasons.

Every time the classroom door opened, Izuku involuntarily flinched. More and more of his classmates trickled into the room as time passed. Finally, less than a minute before class officially started, the door opened the reveal the pink visage of Mina. She looked a bit winded, as if she had been sprinting.

Despite how much he tried to mentally prepare himself for this, Izuku's face blanched at the sight of her. He tried to avoid looking directly at her as she walked to her desk, setting her bag down as she started pulling things out of it.

Well, she hadn't immediately called him out, so that was something. Not that that made him feel any better; if anything, his anxiety only amplified the longer she acted, well, normal. Part of him wanted her to just get it over with.

He nearly yelled out with surprise as he got his wish. Without warning, Mina turned to look at him, their eyes locking. Every muscle in Izuku's body locked up in response, his knuckles turning white due to how hard he was gripping the edges of his desk. She looked at him for a moment before her shutting her eyes and flashing him a toothy grin, waving.

The tense boy managed to pull his eyes away from her, his head snapping forward so he was looking at the front of the classroom. Aizawa had just entered the room, and he was preparing his teaching materials for the day.

Izuku told himself over and over not to look at her. It was clear she was up to _something_ based on that gesture, he just didn't know what. It certainly wasn't what he had expected her to do. To make things worse, he could tell from his periphery she was still looking at him. Fortunately, after a few more seconds their teacher announced that class had begun, forcing Mina to turn her attention to the front as well.

* * *

Mina looked around the cafeteria as she finished picking out her lunch for the day, looking around as she decided where to sit. While everyone in her class (for the most part) got along with one another, they tended to split off into smaller, more close-knit friend groups during lunch period. Being the social butterfly that she was, Mina had friends scattered all over, and had a tendency to hop from table to table throughout the week. Some days it took her awhile to decide on who to join.

However, today was not one of those days. Spotting her target, the pink girl began weaving through the crowded cafeteria.

She had thought a lot about how she was going to deal with Izuku since yesterday. Her initial plan was to just wait and see what he did and go from there, worrying that approaching him directly would send the poor guy into a panic. However, it was clear based on how he had been acting all morning that that wasn't going to work.

Izuku had been on edge throughout all their classes today. She had kept an eye on him and was able to tell just how tense and nervous he had been. Occasionally he had stolen glances at her, as if expecting her to do something, but immediately looked away when he realized she noticed.

It bothered Mina. She wasn't mad at him or anything; after picking through that journal of his, she was pretty convinced he hadn't been watching her for any nefarious reasons. However, he didn't seem to think that was the case. She had tried smiling at him whenever they looked at each other to try to show him things were okay, but that seemed to only make him worse.

Since that angle didn't seem to be working, she had decided to try talking to him directly. Of course, she didn't want to bring up yesterday in front of their friends. She didn't want to make the poor guy pass out or anything, after all. But she did want to try to get it through his head that she wasn't upset. If anything, she actually wanted to talk to him _more_ now.

Mina felt she had gotten a deeper understanding of her shy classmate through his notebook. She wasn't able to resist reading through it a few more times, and with each read she ended up noticing little things that she hadn't seen before. The amount of just… Stuff crammed in there was incredible. It was clear a great deal of passion was written into those pages, and it was a little hard to believe Izuku was the source of it all.

Then again…

As quiet and timid as he was, there was a side to the guy that seemed more in line with his writing. That part of him that had come out during their first day of combat training, even if it was only for a few minutes. That part of him that was willing to jump into battle against multiple villains, even if it had put him in grave danger.

To be frank, Mina didn't know what to make of her bone-breaking classmate at this point. It one of the reasons she wanted to talk to him a bit more; she wanted to figure him out.

More importantly, though, she wanted to talk to him about dancing.

As she had noted before, Izuku's… Observations on her dance practice had a different feel to them than the rest of his notes. There was more excitement, for lack of a better word, in that section.

Outside of heroism, breakdance was perhaps Mina's greatest passion. And seeing that Izuku may had even a bit of interest in it intrigued her. She certainly hadn't expected him of all people to feel that way.

She finally arrived at her destination. Izuku was sitting with his usual two friends, Iida and Uraraka, and today Tsuyu had joined them as well. Uraraka and Iida were on one side of the table, while Izuku and Tsuyu were on the other.

"Hey guys!" The pink-haired girl greeted cheerfully. "This seat taken?" Not waiting for an answer, she plopped down next to Uraraka.

"Oh, hey Mina!" The brunette smiled as her friend sat down. Across from them, Izuku started to cough somewhat violently, clutching his chest. "D-Deku?" Mina noticed he had been in the middle chewing on something when she announced her presence. He must have been startled by her arrival and swallowed it the wrong way.

Before things got any worse, Tsuyu gave him a hard slap on the back, causing a small chunk of rice to come shooting out of his mouth and back into his bowl.

"Midoriya, are you alright?" Iida looked quite concerned as his green-haired friend panted heavily before gulping down some water.

"I-I… I'm okay," he finally said, catching his breath. "J-Just… Went down the wrong pipe." He turned to the frog-girl next to him. "Th-Thanks, Asui."

"Tsu," she said back. "And you're welcome. You probably shouldn't eat so fast."

"R-Right." A hint of red appeared in Izuku's cheeks as he slowly returned to his meal, keeping his eyes firmly on the table. Once again, Mina could see how uncomfortable he clearly was now.

"Sooo how was everyone's Sunday?" Not wanting to dwell on the somewhat awkward moment, she decided to change subjects. "Anyone do anything fun?"

"Dad was out of town, so I needed to help Mom out with the kids, ribbit," Tsuyu explained.

"Yeah, between schoolwork and family stuff I was pretty busy all weekend." Uraraka seemed to have a similar story.

"Why study, of course!" Only Iida would consider that fun. "After all, we have an exam at the end of the week do we not?" Mina's eyes popped open a bit as he said this. There was an exam coming up?

"Oh, right. That," she said flatly.

"You forgot about it, didn't you?" Tsuyu asked her horned classmate.

"N-No!" Mina lied. The frog girl stared blankly at her. "…Okay, maybe."

Tsuyu stuck her tongue out, giving a rare smile.

"Alright, alright… Man you guys are no fun." Mina looked at Izuku. "How about you, Midoriya? Any fun stuff happen yesterday?" The boy's eyes went wide as he looked up at her, and for a second she was worried he was about to start choking again.

"Uh, er, um… N-No, nothing much. Just… Training a-and school stuff." He didn't say anything else before averting his eyes again, concentrating on his meal.

Sheesh… Tough crowd.

The group continued to converse as they enjoyed their food. Mina was, unsurprisingly, the most talkative by a significant margin. Conversely, Izuku made sure to say as little as possible. In fact, he didn't say a word unless prompted by someone else. No matter how hard she tried, Mina couldn't get him to loosen up a little. And boy did she try.

About 15 minutes later, it seemed Izuku had had enough.

"I-I'll be right back, need to use the b-bathroom," he said as he quickly stood up and walked away. As Mina watched him exit the cafeteria at a rather hurried pace, Uraraka spoke up.

"…Is Deku acting funny, or is it just me?"

"Yes, he is normally not this quiet. I hope nothing is troubling him." It seemed Iida agreed.

"This isn't normal?" Mina feigned ignorance. The rest of the group shook their heads.

"I'll ask when he gets back," Tsuyu offered.

"Maybe you shouldn't. If something's on his mind, he'll tell us eventually. You know how he is," Uraraka reminded her. Mina just looked back at the door Izuku exited from. Again, she was trying to demonstrate that she wasn't upset with him. She had hoped trying to talk to him like she had been would have gotten him to calm down, but once again it seemed to just make things worse.

Thinking about what the girl next to her just said, the golden-eyed girl decided it would just be best to wait for him to relax on his own a little. Then she'd go talk to him.

* * *

Izuku had never been so thankful to hear the bell ring in his life. The second Aizawa dismissed the class, the boy was cramming everything into his bookbag as fast as possible, desperate to get out the door. His eyes darted towards Mina as he did, trying to see what she was doing. It seemed she had already packed up before the bell had even rung, and she was already leaving.

He had been having enough trouble focusing on class that morning. After what happened at lunch, though? He wasn't sure he actually retained anything since then.

What was her goal here? She had tried to coax him into discussing yesterday in several different ways while they were eating, but she never actually brought it up herself. He had actually gotten so flustered he had to excuse himself from the table and walk around the hallways for a bit. He had been expecting her to tell all his friends about what he had done ever since she sat down with them, but it never happened.

Rubbing his temples, he groaned softly. He just didn't understand.

She had acted so friendly to him… Why? Was she not actually bothered by what had happened? Mina didn't seem like the sort of person who hid her feelings, which is why Izuku had expected her to just start telling everyone about him. But she hadn't said a word to anyone all day.

Zipping up his backpack, the boy stood. Moments ago, he would have been rushing out the door to get home, but the more he thought about the whole thing, the more he hesitated. It was clear that Mina hadn't just forgotten about their little encounter, and he didn't want to spend the rest of the evening harried by all these thoughts about it. And the fact that she didn't seem angry with him…

Maybe he should just try talking to her. Apologize for his actions and see if they could just move on.

Besides, she likely had his notebook. He had to get it back _somehow_.

Taking a breath, he left the classroom and looked around the hallway. Mina hadn't gotten far, and she had her back to him as she walked.

Reluctantly, he approached his pink classmate.

"H-Hey…" He greeted quietly after closing some distance. "H-hey, A-Ashido." Stopping in her tracks, Mina turned around to look at him.

For a moment, all the apprehension he had been feeling all day returned, and he considered just running off. Fortunately, he managed to get a hold of himself before it came to that.

"Sup?" She asked with a warm smile. He obviously knew what he was here for.

"Uh… C-Can… Can we talk? I, uh… I wanted to… I-I need to…" He fidgeted with his hands as he tried to get the words out.

"You want to go somewhere private?" Mina interrupted.

"I-I…" Izuku felt a little warmth in his cheeks. Clearing his throat, he nodded. As embarrassing as the request was for him, it would be a lot easier to have this conversation when they weren't surrounded by other students.

"Follow me." Using her head to point in a direction, Mina started moving again. Izuku followed suit. She led him outside, then moved off the main path a bit. When they were far enough away from the herd of students exiting the school grounds, she finally stopped.

"This good?" She asked, turning to face him again.

"Y-Yeah…" They hadn't really said much to each other on the way here. "Um… A-Anyways, I wanted to s-say…" His chest was tight, and he was trembling just a bit. "I… I'm s-sorry about… About yesterday." He bowed his head as he apologized. "I… I was just there to work out and happened to see you, honest. I w-wasn't trying to…"

"Relax, dude. I know." The nonchalant response made Izuku look up at his classmate with surprise. "I mean, apology accepted and all, but… I'm not mad. I get you weren't trying to peep." She winked as she said this, causing his face to warm up even more.

"O-Oh." He wasn't entirely sure what to say. "W-Well, I still feel I should-

"Here, this is yours, right?" Interrupting him, Mina pulled out a familiar object, holding it out to him.

"…Yeah." He slowly took the notebook from her hands. "Um… D-Did you…"

"Look at it? Yeah." She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, couldn't resist." his face fell.

"Oh. Th-Then you saw." This was the book he had book all his notes on his classmates in. Including her.

"That's really cool, you know."

"Huh?" Izuku wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.

"All that stuff you got in there. It's, like, _super_ in-depth. I'm honestly a little jealous." She grinned again. "Could I, like, pay you for a copy of your school notes?"

It took the boy a few moments to realize she was kidding about the last part.

"Y…You really think so?" Everyone in the class knew he had basically made a hobby out of note-taking, but he had never actually let anyone look at his books for fear of what they'd say. "I-I mean… I-It's not weird?"

"Oh no, it's super weird," she said, the grin never leaving her face.

Ouch.

"But like… So what? I still think it's neat. I even added a bit in there for you."

"You what?" Opening the book, Izuku started flipping through the pages. He stopped when he got to his section on Mina, where he saw some writing in pink pen that hadn't been there before.

A second later, he slammed the notebook shut with a small yelp, earning a small laugh from the girl in front of him.

Her "addition" was simply two words: Total cutie. With a heart dotting the "i".

"A-Ashido, th-that… That's not f-funny!" Izuku's face was now glowing.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure it was as accurate as possible!" She teased. Her red-faced classmate sighed.

"I-I know, it looks bad…"

"Not really. Again, it's kinda weird, but it's not like you're writing anything bad in there." She paused. "You really got fourteen more of those?" Izuku nodded reluctantly, casing Mina's jaw to drop. "Holy crap, seriously!? How much do you write, dude?"

"I-It's something I started doing a few years ago," he admitted. Gathering as much knowledge about heroes as possible was how he had initially planned to become a hero himself despite his lack of a Quirk. Besides, he didn't have anything better to do; it wasn't like he had friends to spend time with.

"That's freakin' nuts… In a good way though!" He was still shocked by Mina's attitude towards his bizarre hobby. He never thought he'd ever hear someone call it "cool". Not that he didn't appreciate it, of course.

Flipping through the rest of his notebook to see if she had left any more messages for him, Izuku stopped on the final pages that currently had writing on them. The notes he had taken yesterday afternoon… To be honest, he hadn't even realized what he had written at the time.

He couldn't help but blush a little as he read it over. This was a bit less professional than normal.

It just showed how drawn in he was by the dance. In fact, now that he was actually talking to Mina with some degree of comfort, he felt a need to mention it.

"I-I really liked your dance, by the way." He regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. Boy, that didn't sound creepy or anything.

"I could tell." The pink girl smirked, seemingly unphased by the comment. "How did you put it again? 'WOW'!" She made an exaggerated gesture as she quoted his notes. Izuku held the book in front of his face to hide his embarrassment.

"…I-It looked like fun," he said quietly, trying to explain himself.

"It is. Wanna try?"

"Wha?" Pulling the notebook down, the boy stared at Mina with confusion.

"Breakdancing. You wanna try it?" Was she being serious? "I'm actually going to the gym again to practice a bit more. You seemed pretty into it, figured I'd ask if you want to join."

Izuku's mouth hung open a bit as he continued to stare at her. Him, try that? That sounded like an awful idea.

"I… I can't dance," he answered. "I've n-never done it before."

"So? I'll teach you. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right?"

Shoot. He was hoping that would have dissuaded her.

In truth, part of him did want to try it. He wasn't lying when he said it looked like fun. The crazy moves, the amount of energy… It was all so exhilarating.

But the reality was he was simply too self-conscious to even attempt it. Besides, hanging out alone with a girl he barely knew? Knowing him, he'd suffer a nervous breakdown after, like, 20 minutes.

"I… Uh…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" She seemed really adamant about this…

"I…" He sighed. "I'm sorry, but… I-I don't think it'd be a good idea."

He felt his stomach tighten as Mina's excitement died down. Her shoulders slumped a bit as her face fell.

"…You sure?" Ugh. Izuku didn't like turning people down like this.

"Y…Yes. Again, s-sorry." A small sigh escaped his classmate's lips.

"Well… I obviously won't force you." She sounded pretty disappointed.

There was a short, awkward silence between the two of them. Izuku tried to think of an excuse to break it.

"Uh… A-Anyway, I should probably get going. G-Got some h-homework I want to get started on."

"Yeah. Gotcha." Mina paused. "Well, if you ever change your mind, feel free to let me know. Anyway, see you." With that, the two parted ways.

* * *

Izuku couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he left U.A's grounds. It seemed like Mina had really wanted him to join her at the gym, and he wasn't happy about turning her down. They had been having a surprisingly pleasant conversation considering what had happened between them, and he didn't like that he had caused it to end the way it did.

Still, what could he say? He knew agreeing to her proposal would have been a huge mistake. It would have been a waste of her time trying to teach him how to dance, and he'd just be a nervous wreck the entire time.

At the same time though, a little voice in his head was yelling at him for passing up the opportunity. Again, he did want to try it. Plus, he enjoyed that brief conversation with Mina; she seemed like a really nice person.

Her look of disappointment suddenly appeared in the boy's mind, causing him to stop in his tracks. Considering how cheerful she always was, it was a rather striking image.

…He was going to be thinking about it for the rest of the day, wasn't he?

Izuku sighed. Between his empathy for others and his genuine desire to try something new, he knew this was going to keep bothering him.

"…I'm really going to regret this, aren't I?"

* * *

Mina began stretching her legs, now changed into her workout clothes. She was back in the dance studio at Gamma Gym, preparing to practice her routines a bit more.

Part of her didn't even want to bother. Half the reason he decided to do this was because she was hoping she'd have company today.

It had been a spur of the moment to invite Izuku to join her. She had planned on talking with him about her hobby a bit, but before she knew it she was asking him if he wanted to try. She felt a bit dumb in retrospect; obviously he wouldn't want to. He was way too shy to just say yes to an out-of-the-blue invitation like that.

She was just so excited about having the chance to share her passion with someone… And make a new friend, for that matter.

Maybe he'd come around eventually. He was obviously interested; heck, he had outright said he thought it looked like fun.

"Oh well… For now I should just-huh?"

The sound of the door opening pulled Mina from her thoughts. Turning her head, her eyes widened for a moment, then relaxed. A huge grin appeared on her face.

"H-Hi…" Izuku said, waving.

* * *

And so it begins. Setups all taken care of, now we can really get rolling. While I hate to sound like I'm begging, I do want to encourage any and all feedback from you folks. It's pretty darn important to me; how else can I know how I'm doing? Anyway, see you next time.


	3. Rough Start

Finally done with this. Struggled with some writer's block here, hopefully it turns out alright.

* * *

Izuku had second guessed himself multiple times on his way to the gym. Was he really going to do this? Was he seriously going to make a complete fool of himself? What good would this do?

He had stood in front of the door to the studio for at least a minute when he finally got there. His brain was yelling at him to turn around and leave, to stop the madness before it was too late.

Of course, he ultimately didn't listen.

Deep down, Izuku knew how ridiculous this all seemed. Just a week ago he had stared death in the face multiple times, throwing himself at those terrifying villains multiple times without hesitation. Yet somehow, the prospect of trying to dance with a classmate was practically paralyzing him with fear. It was beyond absurd.

He needed to put a stop to this. He needed to fight the instincts he had developed from years of being a social outcast and actually step outside his comfort zone a little. He _wanted_ to do this, despite the heavy pounding in his chest.

Besides, something about his brief conversation with Mina made him want to talk to her more. Perhaps it was the way she acted so nonchalant about their last encounter, or the fact that she wasn't weirded out by his "hobby" (heck, she actually _complimented_ it). She was incredibly friendly despite the fact that she had several reasons to want to avoid him.

He had been given a chance to make a new friend, and he didn't want to waste it. And so, the nervous boy finally opened that door and stepped inside.

The studio was fairly large, designed to hold entire classes if need be. A large mirror lined the back wall, likely to allow dancers to check their form as they practice. A few piles of mats were tucked against one of the other walls, and there was a stereo system in one corner of the room. Beyond that, it was pretty barren.

"H-Hi…" He greeted nervously, waving at Mina. A huge smile appeared on her face.

"Midoriya!" She exclaimed as she sprang to her feet. It appeared Izuku had caught her in the middle of stretching. "You change your mind?"

"Y-Yeah," he answered, nodding. "I, uh… I-If you're still willing to sh-show me, I'd like to try-

"WAHOO!" Mina began jumping up and down. "Ohmygosh, this is going to be _so much fun!"_ She squealed. "Okay, okay, what to cover first… There's toprock, there's downrock, freezes… Oh man, do we start with music or not? Maybe…"

Izuku stared blankly at Mina as she continued chattering to herself, her words speeding up as she spoke. It kind of reminded him of his mumbling habit, though with a lot more energy. And she just kept going…

"Uh… Ashido?" He quietly interrupted.

"Hm?" The girl immediately stopped rambling as he called out to her. "Oh! Sorry, just excited, that's all."

"I-I can tell…" She was still bouncing on her feet a bit. "S-So, um… How should we do this?" Izuku didn't have any clue how he should start.

"Hm… Well, have you ever done anything like this before?" Mina asked. Her classmate shook his head.

"N-No, never. In fact, I… I've never really done any kind of actual d-dancing before. L-Like I said, I… I can't dance."

"Pfft. Anyone can dance, Midoriya. You just gotta learn how." She pondered for a moment. "Still, no experience at all, huh? Like, not even a school dance or something?"

"I, uh… Never went to one." What reason would he have ever had to go, besides getting ridiculed by his peers/ Not like he there was anyone who he could have asked to go with.

"Seriously? Dang, dude, you're really missing out." Mina looked surprised at his complete lack of experience.

"B-But…" Wanting to at least show he wasn't completely hopeless, Izuku spoke up. "I-I did spend a lot of time, well, um, researching breakdance yesterday…" It was slightly embarrassing to admit out loud. "S-So, I know some of the terms and stuff."

"You take notes?" His prospective teacher asked with a grin.

"…Uh…" Averting his eyes slightly, a hint of red crept into Izuku's cheeks. Mina let out of a small laugh, his reaction answering her question.

"Of course you did..." She shook her head slightly, still smiling. "Well, cool! Means I can spend less time talking and more time showing!" She rubbed her hands together. "Okay, first step: Stretching."

Made sense. From what Izuku had seen, this type of dance was physically demanding, and he didn't want to risk injuring himself because he didn't properly prepare.

Thinking about it, he realized this would double as a good workout as well as being fun. At least he hoped it would be fun.

Mina began leading him through a series of stretches, trying to strike up a conversation as she did.

"So what do you think of U.A. so far?" She asked.

Oh god. Casual conversation with a girl he barely knew.

"I-It's… I r-really like it here." An obvious understatement. None of Izuku's classmates could truly understand just how much being at this school meant to him. "I-It's t-tough, but…"

Gah! Why was it he couldn't get a single sentence out without tripping over his words? Why did he have to be so bad at this?

"Tell me about it. It's only been two weeks, but I feel like we've had to do a ton already," Mina said. "I mean, I get it. This place is the top school for a reason. Still… It's a little nuts here."

No kidding. The staff here could be somewhat eccentric and didn't seem to have qualms about putting their students through some seriously intense training. And like Mina said, it had only been two weeks; he couldn't imagine what things would be like down the road. Not that he wouldn't be ready for it.

Granted, their class _was_ a bit of a special case.

"W-Well, some of the s-stuff we've done wasn't… Um… Wasn't intentional," Izuku pointed out. His would-be instructor's smile faded.

"…Right." She didn't say anything else, though it was clear she knew what he was talking about.

Crap. We did he need to bring that up? The USJ attack wasn't exactly something 1A looked back on fondly.

"S-S-Sorry!" He quickly apologized. "I-I didn't m-mean to-

"It's fine." Mina's face brightened up again. "I mean, yeah, it was super duper scary. But we made it out ok." She paused. "Plus, I heard you whooped some serious butt out in the water area, which is super cool."

"I-I, uh… I mean, I wasn't alone…" Once again, referred to as "cool", even indirectly, threw Izuku off. It wasn't exactly a notion he agreed with.

"Well yeah, but Tsuyu said you were the one who came up with the plan to beat the bad guys. Sounds like you were quite the leader out there!"

The boy put his arms up in front of his face, trying to hide his rather intense blush. All these compliments were bad enough, but coming from a girl? He simply couldn't handle it. Mina seemed to find his embarrassment amusing, laughing softly.

"A-A-A-Anyways!" Getting a hold of himself, he decided to change subjects. "S-So, h-how long have you b-been doing this?"

"What, breakdance? Oh, years dude," the pink girl answered as she sat down, bending forward to touch her toes. Throughout these exercises, Izuku couldn't help but notice how flexible she was. By comparison, he was stiff as a board. "Saw someone doing it at a park when I was little and thought 'that looks super cool', so I decided to try and learn." She stood, grabbing on of her calves and pulling her leg behind her back. Her "student" followed her lead.

"O-Oh, who taught you?"

"Nobody at first. Just watched some videos and tried to copy them." Izuku's eyes widened; he couldn't imagine trying to emulate some of the things he had seen yesterday. He was liable to seriously hurt himself. "After the third trip to the doctor's, my parents decided to sign me up for actual lessons." She laughed at her little joke.

"…Oh." Her classmate was less amused.

The two conversed for a few more minutes as they finished their stretches. Izuku found himself relaxing ever so slightly as they spoke, enjoying Mina's warm and welcoming personality.

"Alright, that should be good. Now let's get started!" She cheered, deeming the warm-up over.

…And just like that, what little peace of mind Izuku had gained vanished. It was time for him to actually start trying to dance, with a heavy emphasis on "trying". He could already feel his heartrate accelerating as his anxiety returned.

"Don't worry, we'll just do the basic stuff," Mina insisted, obviously noticing the worry on Izuku's face. "You'll be fine, trust me!" She gave a thumbs-up. "Alright, so let's start with a simple three-move sequence. First we'll do some toprock-Er, you know what that is?"

"Y-Yeah. It's basically all the stuff y-you do while s-standing, right?" Again, the prospective student had done his research.

"Exactly. We'll do that for the first move, then drop to the floor for the downrock stuff for the other two. So first, stand like this. Alright, now bend your knees…"

Mina began walking through the moves. Izuku already felt silly standing with his knees bent the way they were, which wasn't helping his confidence. The first move seemed pretty straightforward though; it involved simply bringing one foot forward at an angle, then back in, then putting the other foot out in the same fashion, and then back in.

"Now, when you bring your foot in, you want to tuck your hands in to your chest like this… But when you step out, do this!" Adding in arm motions, Mina stretched her arms out as she stepped, her hands open and facing forward. "Now you try."

"Uh… O-Okay." Already feeling his face heating up, Izuku reluctantly began replicating the move. Within seconds, there was an issue.

"No, you gotta really swing your arms out," Mina instructed. "You're doing, like, this." She mirrored his stance, her arms only partially stretched out and her hands hanging limp. "You gotta put more 'oomph' into everything, dude! Breakdancing's all about presence."

Great, he was already screwing things up. Not that he was surprised.

He tried a few more times, though each time there was something off. He didn't step out enough, or he mixed up when to put his arms out or in. And of course, he just couldn't get himself to put that "oomph" in that Mina was talking about.

With each mistake, he felt his confidence wane even more. Was he really _this_ hopeless?

"Alright, let's just move on for now." His instructor decided to have him stop. "Maybe seeing all the moves together will help, you know?" She didn't seem upset or annoyed, but in Izuku's mind he felt she was probably getting impatient.

Great, now he felt like he was wasting her time…

"Next move's super quick. Just drop down like this." She bent her knees down far enough so that her bottom was nearly touching the floor, supporting herself by putting on hand on the ground behind her. "Like this!"

The novice dancer followed her lead, straining his knees as he dropped. All Might's training had been more about increasing his raw strength rather than his flexibility, so these sorts of action weren't the easiest thing for him. Still, he managed to do it.

"Great! See, you're fine. Now for the fun part." Mina put her other hand down behind her so she was on her hands and feet with her back towards the floor. She then stretched her left leg out while bringing her right one in. "So first you do this, then roll a bit…"

She rolled her left leg out, then her right so that the knees were touching. Holding her right hand up in front of her, she lifted herself so that only her left hand and foot were touching the floor, kicking out slightly with her right foot before coming back down to her original position. She then did a little hop to swap the position of her legs before repeating the process in the other direction.

Izuku gulped. This seemed a bit more complicated.

"Just take it slow for now, don't worry." Mina gave him a reassuring smile. He appreciated all the encouragement she was giving, even if it wasn't helping much.

He struggled with this move as well. He couldn't quite get the balance right, and he was finding bending his legs the right away tricky. Plus, once again, he couldn't but imagine how goofy he must have looked doing all this. He couldn't imagine if, say, Bakugou came by and saw him right now.

After watching him flail on the ground for a bit, Mina decided to switch back to the first move, wanting to concentrate on tying all three steps together. Amazingly, Izuku found himself having even more difficulty with first move than before. His whole body just fight tight, and he couldn't get himself to move as fluidly now.

"S-Sorry!" He stammered as he screwed up again. He had lost count of how many times he had apologized at this point. These were basic moves! How could he be having this much trouble already?

He thought of the stunts he saw Mina performing yesterday. How in the world would he ever be able to do that kind of stuff? Oh god, this was such a mistake.

After a good 10 minutes of "practice" Mina finally decided to stop.

"Alright, um… Hey, why don't you take a quick break? You're getting a bit frustrated." That was one way to describe it. Izuku was about ready to call it for today. And the rest of his life. "Maybe some water will help?"

"Y-Yeah, maybe," he muttered. "I-I'll be r-right back…" He stepped outside the studio, taking a deep breath.

It shouldn't have been so surprising; he had told himself he was going to regret this, after all. He just figured he would have been able to get a little further than this without screwing up so badly.

Mina must have been getting fed up with him. Not that be blamed her, of course; he was actually surprised she had acted so encouraging the entire time. Still, even she must have had her limits, and they had probably been reached.

It was too bad. He did enjoy hanging out with Mina, but after that display she probably didn't want to deal with him much longer.

He should stop wasting her time. As much as he wanted to get into this, he didn't want to make his classmate put up with his ineptitude any more.

Sighing, the boy headed back to the studio.

* * *

Mina paced back and forth, rubbing her chin as she tried to think about how to proceed. She had expected Izuku to have some trouble at first, yes, but not nearly to this extent. And the worst part was that he was getting, well, worse.

Thing was, the problem wasn't so much his technique. These were really easy moves, and she was confident he would be able to get them down. But he had absolutely no confidence in himself, and it was screwing him up. He would panic and start apologizing after each little mistake, and the more flustered he got the worse he did. She could just tell by looking at him how tense he was, which hindered his movement.

She supposed she should have expected something like this to happen. Breakdance was very aggressive and in-your-face, and Izuku was… Neither of those things. To be honest, she was still amazed he of all people was so interested in it.

She wanted to help him get over this hill. He was his own worst enemy right now, and she needed to figure out how to make him stop doubting himself so much. But how to do it? From the first day she had met him, Izuku had always been like this. Yet she knew now that wasn't all there was to the guy.

The sound of the door opening drew her attention. Her student had returned.

"H-Hey," he said, walking up to her. He was looking at the floor. "U-Um, listen… I-I really appreciate you o-offering to show me h-how to do this, but… But I-I think-

"Stop." No way she was going to let him just give up. Not without at least trying to help. "Before you say anything else, I wanted to ask you something." Izuku looked up at her.

"What?" Mina decided to just be as blunt and direct as possible.

"Why are you so nervous all the time?" The question obviously caught him off guard. "Not just here, but like… You're always so on edge. I don't get it." She folded her arms, tilting her head slightly. "What's bothering you so much?"

Izuku stared at her in silence, his face contorting into one of confusion.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Mina rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean. You can't even get a sentence out without stammering, dude. And you're getting so worked up over this dance stuff for no reason. What's up?" The bewildered boy looked at her for a little longer before averting his gaze. He seemed reluctant to speak. "Look, you can talk to me, dude. I know you've got a ton going on in that noggin of yours." At least, that's what she had gauged from looking through his notebook.

Whatever was bugging him, she wanted to help. That's what heroes did, after all.

"…S-Sorry." He finally spoke after a solid minute of silence. "I, uh… N-Nobody's ever really asked me that before." He paused, opening and closing his mouth a few times. Mina stayed quiet, not wanting to rush him. "I'm just… Not used to all this."

"What, the dancing?" That didn't seem right.

"No… W-Well, yes, but… I-I mean…" Izuku hesitated for a bit. "I mean… I'm trying to say…" A sigh. "…I-I didn't… I didn't really have any f-friends growing up."

Oh.

 _Oh._

"My, um, my Quirk… I-It didn't develop until very recently. Th-That's why I have so much trouble c-controlling it." His strength-enhancing Quirk was definitely weird; many Quirks had drawbacks, but Mina had never seen anything to that degree. "So growing up, I and… And everyone I knew just thought I was… I was Quirkless."

Quirkless. Not a word used lightly these days. Mina had never met anyone without a Quirk, as they were exceedingly rare, though she had heard stories. They were generally looked down upon, almost treated like second-class citizens in many regards. Frankly, she couldn't imagine being without her acid abilities.

She could only imagine what life must have been like for her classmate. Especially knowing how passionate he was about heroism. Had he always been like that?

"…I see." It was rare for the horned girl to be at a loss for words.

"I got picked on a lot for it," Izuku continued. "E-Everyone in school would always tell me I was… I was worthless. That I'd never accomplish anything." He was speaking faster now, his quiet voice growing in volume a bit. "And… And after awhile I… I started to think the same."

Mina's hands balled in fists. What sort of asshole would act that way towards someone like him? Izuku was nothing if not kind. Not that anyone deserved that sort of treatment.

The green-haired boy kept going. It was as if a plug had been pulled, and everything was gushing out. He spoke of his desire to be a hero despite his perceived Quirkless nature. He spoke of how All Might kept him inspired even through the darkest times, and how he had even met the legendary hero once before entering U.A. He spoke of the day his Quirk finally awakened, and the struggles he faced even now getting it under control. Mina stayed quiet through it all, though she had to fight to keep her mouth shut more than a few times.

Finally, after several minutes of non-stop talking, Izuku quieted down.

"…Midoriya," His classmate said softly, sympathy in her eyes.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble… I-I just…" He sniffled, wiping the tears that had started forming in his eyes away. "I've… I've never r-really talked about all that before." His voice was a bit shaky.

Hearing all that, it was no surprise Izuku was the way he was. He had gone his whole life isolated from others, all his confidence and self-esteem stomped into the dirt by his peers. Of course someone like him was going to have difficulty talking to others. Or doing anything that would make him stand out at all.

Mina obviously couldn't just undo years of social neglect. But she could certainly try.

"No, it's cool… Thanks for telling me all that." Izuku looked back up at her, eyes a little misty. "Means a lot. Like, that couldn't have been easy to say." She offered a small, comforting smile to the boy.

"Y-Yeah…" Nodding slowly, his attention turned to the mats. "Um… C-Can we… Can we sit down for a sec?"

"Sure."

The two walked over to one of the stacks of mats, sitting atop it. They were both quiet for a moment, with Mina simply watching Izuku as he stared ahead.

He jumped as the girl next to him rested a hand on his shoulder.

"None of what those jerks said is true, you know," she said softly. Izuku was simply staring wide-eyed at her hand, his face turning crimson before directing his gaze at her face. "You're _not_ worthless. Even if you really were Quirkless, you wouldn't be."

"I…I don't-

"Because I've seen what you're really like. We all have." She wasn't going to let him finish that sentence, whatever it was. "Your fight with that Bakugou jerk, all that stuff you did at the USJ… Seriously man, that took guts. You're freaking awesome when you want to be."

It was a genuine statement. Mina, as well as many others in their class, had been blown away by their meek classmate's fight with 1A's resident hothead. And the USJ stuff was a whole other matter entirely.

"Besides, you have friends. Iida, Ochako, Tsuyu, probably others I'm sure… And me, of course."

"Y-You?" Izuku seemed almost surprised by this.

"Uh… Yeah? After telling me all that, how could we not be?" Her grin grew to a standard Mina size. "Besides, we were friends the second you first walked in here!"

After staring at her for a few seconds more, a small smile appeared on Izuku's face. He looked considerably more relaxed as well.

"There's a smile!" Mina clapped his shoulder a couple times, causing him to tense up again for a moment. She hopped off the mat pile. "Now come on, let's try this again, 'kay?"

Izuku nodded once, getting off as well.

The difference was like night and day. The novice dancer still struggled a bit, but it didn't take long for him to get a solid grasp of the moves he had been shown. He was clearly still a little nervous, requiring lots of encouragement from Mina, but he was noticeably more comfortable now.

The two spent the next hour or so going over basic techniques. Mina was sure to take things slow, not wanting to overwhelm her student; he had already had a pretty stressful day. The two got to know each other a bit more as they danced, though Izuku still acted quite awkward. Again, it wasn't as if all that anxiety was just going to vanish. Still, it was he clear he considered Mina a friend now.

Eventually, Izuku decided he wanted to call it for the day.

"S-Sorry, but I should probably get going," he said. "I do have homework and studying… A-And you do too, right?"

"Ugh, don't remind me." She had once again forgotten about the exam coming up.

"Oh, s-s-sorry, didn't mean to-

"Dude. You gotta cool it with the apologizing." He'd say sorry about the smallest things.

"R-Right. Sorr…Er, I mean… Never mind." She couldn't help but giggle at his awkward demeanor, which caused some color to rush to his cheeks.

"You're right though, we should probably get going. But hey, fun right?" Collecting himself, her new friend nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! I think I'm starting to get this a bit." He paused, rubbing an arm. "Uh… I-If it's not too much trouble, c-could we possibly-

"Obviously we're gonna keep doing this." As if that was ever a question. "In fact…" Reaching into her bag, the pink girl pulled out her phone. "Here, let's swap numbers. Then we can figure out how we wanna schedule this."

"Oh, um… S-S-Sounds good…" The stammering student reluctantly pulled out his own phone, looking slightly more nervous than normal. The two exchanged phone numbers.

"Sweet! Come on, we can walk to the station together!"

"T…Together…"

The two made their way out of the studio, Izuku's face now a bright crimson.

* * *

"See you tomorrow, Midori!"

"Y-Yeah. Have a good night, Ashido."

"I told you, Mina! All my friends call me that."

"R-Right."

Izuku's new friend waved enthusiastically one last time as he boarded his train. She kept waving as it departed, wearing the trademark grin of hers the whole time.

She really didn't have an off switch.

Letting out of a loud sigh, the tired boy sunk into his chair. It had certainly been an eventful day. He was looking forward to finally getting home.

Not to say he didn't enjoy it.

It had certainly been a rough start, but breakdancing was even more fun than Izuku had expected. Once he had gotten over that initial hurdle, anyway. He had only done a few simple moves, Mina wanting him to get a feel for all the basics before they started any of the crazier stuff, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. Plus, he had made a new friend.

Mina's positivity, he quickly learned, was rather contagious. Despite his social ineptitude, he had found himself smiling and laughing alongside her as time passed. Although, it was still incredibly awkward for him to have spent that much time alone with a girl; he was honestly surprised he hadn't just passed out at some point.

As the train rolled along, the once-Quirkless boy's mind drifted back to that moment just after his first failed attempt at trying to dance. How Mina had confronted him about his behavior.

He still didn't know why he had told her all that. A lot of what he said was very personal, and none of his other friends knew about most of it. But once he started speaking, he just couldn't get himself to stop. He had kept all of that bottled up inside for so long, and to finally talk about it with someone else was nothing short of liberating. It was like a massive weight had been lifted off of him.

The fact that Mina had been willing to listen to all that and still treat him the way she did… Perhaps that's why he suddenly felt a lot more comfortable around her. He hadn't told the whole truth, obviously – One for All had to remain secret, after all – but it was close enough to the truth that it didn't really matter.

He was glad she wasn't afraid to just ask him like that. Otherwise, he probably never would have talked about it. He would have just kept it all locked up inside and left. But because she did, he now had both a new friend and a new hobby.

He already couldn't wait for their next meeting.

* * *

And done. I should probably state for the record that I don't really know anything about breakdance. I've just been reading/watching tutorials and stuff about it to try to be as accurate as possible. If there's anyone out there reading this that is more into it, I apologize if there are any inaccuracies.


	4. The Friend You Need

It lives! Yes, sorry about the surprise hiatus. I sort of hit a wall when I realized I didn't actually have a plan for this story as a whole, and was just winging it chapter by chapter. I took some time to fix that, as well as write a bunch of little oneshots that were buzzing around my head. But we're back now!

* * *

Mina walked along at a brisk pace, munching on a muffin as exited the train station. Checking her phone, she deduced that there was more than enough time for her to make it to class and not be late. Heck, she might even be early for once. It had been one of those rare mornings where the hero student _hadn't_ hit the snooze button on her alarm.

As U.A. appeared in the distance, the pink girl thought back to yesterday. Her conversation with Izuku about his past was still fresh in her mind. How couldn't it be? The guy had been through hell for a huge portion of his life, and hearing about it all was a lot to think about.

Mina couldn't even fathom the concept of being without her Quirk. It had been a part of her life for so long… Who would she even be if she never had it? How much would her life have changed? Hearing her classmate's story really made her think about those sorts of questions.

Frankly, the fact that Izuku still aspired to be a hero for so long was astounding. Mina honestly wasn't sure she would have shared that drive were she in his situation. Underneath that meek exterior was a truly iron will; suddenly his behavior during his fight with Bakugou and at the USJ made a lot more sense. That was the real Izuku Midoriya coming out.

And now, thanks to this surprising interest the two of them shared, the dance-loving girl had a chance to help him out. The poor guy _needed_ friends he could count on for support. Friends who could and would remind him that he was so much more than he thought he was. And by golly, she would be that kind of friend for him. It would go against everything she stood for if she didn't.

As she finished her muffin, Mina spotted a speck of green in the distance.

Huh. Speak of the devil.

"Heeeey!" Breaking into a run, the excited girl called out as she approached her new friend. "Midoriya! Wait up!" Izuku's head snapped around as the sound of his name being called seemed to startle him slightly. Upon seeing who was getting his attention, the shy boy gave a soft smile.

"G-Good morning, Ashido," he greeted.

"Mina." He was quickly corrected.

"Oh, r-right." The two continued walking. "S-Sorry, just… Between y-you and Asu-Er, Tsu, I just-

"Relax dude." She didn't need him getting so worked up over something this minor. It wasn't surprising that someone like him had trouble being so informal with names. Something told her she'd be correcting him a _lot_.

"…Sorry."

"Oh, quit apologizing so much."

"S-Um…" It was an automatic response, apparently. "Uh… Anyway, h-how was the rest of your day yesterday?"

"Boooring. Homework's such a drag…" Mina would normally put off her work until the last possible minute (often the morning it was due), but with an exam coming up she knew she needed to be at least a little proactive. "So we're definitely on for Friday, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Izuku nodded. The two of them had conversed via text for a little while last night, mostly about dance. With the upcoming test being a priority, they had decided to have their next lesson after it was over. It would be just the thing to unwind.

Mina immediately noticed that her new friend was significantly more talkative over text message. He was still awkward about it, but he "said" a lot more. She supposed he felt more comfortable conversing when it wasn't in person, which made sense.

Hopefully he'd eventually be willing to act that way in person.

The two made small talk for a bit longer before finally reaching U.A. Mina passed through the entrance in the middle of a story.

"…And so my dad says to me… Huh?" Realizing Izuku had disappeared from her periphery, the chatty student turned around. For whatever reason, her companion had stopped at the school's gate. He appeared to be staring up at it too. "Uh... Midoriya?"

The boy didn't seem to hear her. He took a few more seconds to look at the gate before taking a deep breath followed by a single, exaggerated step forward. His face seemed to brighten up as he did all this.

…And immediately fell when he noticed Mina staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh…" Realizing how strange he must have just looked, Izuku's cheeks turned a vibrant shade of red. "W-We should… We should keep m-moving." He continued walking at a more hurried pace, his friend following suit.

"Alright, I'll bite. What the heck was that about?" Mina asked him after a few seconds of silence.

"I…" A sigh. "It… It's stupid…"

"Aw, come on. You can tell me."

He looked at her for a moment, then forward again.

"I… I don't know, just… I just s-still can't believe I made it here, you know? I mean, U.A. felt like an… An impossible dream for so long." Their pace slowed a bit as he paused. "Every time I get to that gate, I just feel… I-It's a little hard to describe, but…"

"I get'cha." Mina spoke after Izuku trailed off.

It certainly made sense that he'd feel that way. Honestly, there were days _she_ still couldn't believe she had been accepted to the incredibly prestigious school. One could only imagine how someone like Izuku must have felt. This was quite literally a dream come from for him.

"…Still, don't think I've ever seen someone that excited about going to school." She couldn't help but joke, though. Her companion actually managed a small laugh.

"I… I guess you haven't spent much time with Iida then."

"Oh god… I can only imagine." As far as she was concerned, the jury was still out on if that guy was really human, and not some advanced machine of some sort.

A few minutes later, the pair arrived at class.

* * *

After how incredibly stressful yesterday had been, Izuku was happy to get a chance to actually relax with some friends. It was lunch time, and his table was pretty active today. Iida and Uraraka were with him, as usual, but they had also been joined by Tsuyu, Mineta, and Mina. It was pretty common for members of his class to shuffle from table to table throughout the week, as they all got along pretty well. Tsuyu, Mineta, and Izuku had all grown a little closer after their life-or-death struggle together at the USJ, though the frog girl still had absolutely no tolerance for her stubby classmate's advances.

As for Mina, that was self-explanatory. Though it wasn't as if Izuku was the only one here she was friends with; Uraraka and Tsuyu got along with her very well. Iida and Mineta… Well, she tolerated them at least.

The group had been chatting about random topics for the last 10 minutes or so. School, heroes, the weather, anything really.

"So, Midoriya," Tsuyu said, turning to look at him. "How long have you and Mina been on a first name basis, anyway?"

The question caught the boy off guard somewhat.

"Huh?"

"Well, I've never seen you two talk much, ribbit."

"…Yeah, why is that?" Mineta's eyes narrowed, suspicion in his voice. Izuku wasn't really sure what he was implying.

"I… Um..." He hesitated to bring up his "lesson" yesterday. How would the others react? What if they got the wrong idea? Would it seem weird that he was suddenly interested in dancing?

…He was mumbling, wasn't he?

"Since yesterday," Mina decided to answer for him. "We hung out after school for a bit."

"Ah." The frog girl seemed satisfied with this response, though Mineta was now staring at Izuku with even more scrutiny.

"Oh, what'd you guys do?" Uraraka asked before the purple-topped student could say anything. Mina looked at Izuku, not answering right away. Was she waiting for him to speak?

…Augh, why did he have to overthink _everything_?

"We…" Oh, what was the harm? "She was… She was teaching me breakdance." He said it in a quiet voice, fighting a blush.

"Really?" The brunette looked almost skeptical for a second as she looked back and forth at the two of them, but quickly smiled. "Oh wow, that sounds cool!"

"It _was_ cool. Right, Midori?" Mina nudged Izuku's shoulder with her elbow.

"Ha… Y-Yeah." He had no idea why he was so reluctant to discuss his new interest.

"I didn't take you for the dancing type," Tsuyu said flatly, tilting her head.

"Yes, you've never mentioned having an interest in it before now," Iida added.

"W-Well, um… I actually didn't really know my…Myself until recently." The nervous boy didn't want to discuss the details of how he realized he was into breakdance.

"He caught me practicing in the gym the other day." Aaaaand so much for that. "Was so impressed by my skills he just _had_ to try it himself." The mischievous girl grinned at him as she spoke. "You should've been there, he was _begging_ for me to teach him.

Heat rushed to Izuku's face.

"I-I-I… No, th-that's not how it… M-Mina!"

"I somehow doubt that's what happened, ribbit." Ochako and Iida seemed equally skeptical of Mina's story.

"…So Midoriya was peeping, and Ashido _rewarded_ him with… P-Private l-l-lessons…?" Mineta mumbled under his breath. He was about to shout something, but a quick smack in the back of the head from Tsuyu shut him up.

"Well regardless of how it happened, we're making it a regular thing,' Mina explained. It seemed nobody else heard the lecherous student's comment.

"Oh! Well, um, is there any chance I could maybe join you guys? That sounds like a lot of fun." Izuku tensed up as Uraraka asked this.

"I'd like to join too!" Mineta sounded a little _too_ eager. The slightly flustered boy looked back and forth at the two of them.

He knew there was no reason for them not to join in, but… It was tough enough getting himself to do this with just one other person watching.

"As much as I'd like to take you up on that…" Mina looked at her "student" for a moment, then back at Uraraka. "Gonna have to say no. Midori here's got two left feet; I've got my hands full teaching him the ropes as-is."

Huh? What was she doing? Considering how much she loved to dance, Izuku figured she'd have jumped at the chance to show more people how to do it.

"Tell you what though, once he's starting to get the hang of things I'll let you know. Sound good?" Uraraka looked a bit disappointed at this response but nodded.

"Alright then. I'll hold you to that!"

Mineta simply glared at Izuku. Again, the freckled boy wasn't sure what the deal was.

The group continued to eat and chat, the subject quickly shifting away from Izuku's new hobby. However, the fact that Mina turned their classmates down continued to bug the green-haired boy. Did she really think he was that much of a hassle to teach? That didn't quite seem right. Though it wasn't exactly wrong…

Lunch ended before long, and the group began getting ready to return to class. As Mina went to throw out her trash, though, Izuku walked up to her.

"Hey, um… Can I talk to you for a sec?" He asked quietly, not wanting the others to hear. The pink girl looked a bit confused, but nodded.

"Yeah, what's up?" Izuku looked around to make sure nobody was listening.

"Why don't you want to the others to join us?" He asked. "It… Seemed kind of weird for you to say that." A pause. "Unless… A-Am I really… am I really that hard to t-teach?"

Mina let out a soft sigh.

"Of course not." She offered a small smile. "Anyway, two reasons. One: There's no way Mineta was _actually_ interested in learning how to dance. Two: I could tell you weren't really comfortable with the idea."

"Huh?" Izuku was quite surprised by this answer. "What do you mean?"

"Dude, you went like…" Mina clenched her whole body for a second. "…When Ochako asked about joining. It was kinda hard to miss."

"…Oh." He was not good at controlling his body language.

"Hey, I understand. I know this isn't exactly the easiest thing for you given… Well, everything you told me. It can just be the two of us for now, kay?"

"O…Okay." Now he felt a little guilty; Mina clearly wanted to say yes to Uraraka.

"And once you feel more comfortable, she can join in. Heck, maybe we can start a club or something."

"A… A c-club?" Just the thought of a whole group of peers watching Izuku flail about was making his heartrate increase.

" _Maybe_. If you're alright with the idea," Mina clarified. "We'll worry about that later though, got it?" Calming down, the dancing "student" nodded.

"Got it. And, um… Th-Thanks for keeping it private for now." He didn't like being the reason Uraraka couldn't join them, but he just wasn't ready to deal with anyone else. Especially not another girl…

The mental image of Izuku trying to dance with both girls watching was making him turn beet red.

"Uh… You alright?" Mina asked, not sure what had set him off this time. Her voice brought the tomato-head back to reality.

"J-Just fine!" He exclaimed with a forced smile. Deciding to roll with it, Mina said nothing more as the two rejoined the others and returning to their classroom.

* * *

The next few days passed without much incident for 1A. Classes continued as normal, or at least as normal as they could be at U.A. The only thing out of the ordinary that week was the exam, which kept the students quite occupied outside of school as they prepared.

Mina had a busy week like the rest of her class, but not for the same reasons. Her schedule outside of classes was jampacked with all sorts of important appointments, such as shopping at the mall or smashing high scores at the arcade. Anything that _wasn't_ school work, really.

Needless to say, she was not feeling great when she left the classroom Friday afternoon.

"I'm dead, Midoriya. Dead I tell you!" She exclaimed dramatically, head hanging low. Izuku had met up with her as they headed to the gym for dance practice.

"I… I'm sure you did fine, Ash-Mina." The mild-mannered boy was still having difficulty getting used to using her first name.

"When did they even teach us half the crap on that test?" She grumbled.

"Um… E-Everything on there was stuff we've already learned."

"Well, not according to _my_ notes." The fact Mina barely took notes wasn't something she wanted to bring up.

Nor the fact that all her "studying" amounted to glancing over her notes for about 20 minutes last night.

"Ugh… Whatever. Nothing to be done about it now." Never one to dwell on things for long, the bubbly girl suddenly returned to her normal self. "So, you been practicing at all?" Izuku took a second to realize she was asking about dancing.

"Huh? Oh. Well, a-a little. J-Just the stuff we did Monday." He paused. "B-But, I've been doing a lot more research. Breakdance actually has a really interesting history-

"Of course," Mina interrupted, rolling her eyes with a smile. "You're gonna know more about this stuff than me if you keep this up, you know."

"I…" Red crept onto her classmate's face.

"Hey, don't me wrong. I think it's super duper cool you're so interested in all this. You'll have tell me about it some other time… When my brain isn't so fried." The vibrant girl was in no mood for a lecture so soon after that exam.

It wasn't too long before they arrived at their destination. Back in the studio, the pair did their stretches as they prepared for another lesson.

"Okay, first things first: Review! Show me what we went over last time." Izuku gulped.

"Uh… A-Alright." Mina leaned against a wall, giving him space.

"Remember what we talked about. You'll be fine, just let yourself relax, kay?" She knew her student was going to need all the encouragement he could get. "You can do it!" After hesitating for a more moments, Izuku took a deep breath and started the little routine they had gone over.

Mina beamed as he executed the moves perfectly. No mistakes, no lack of confidence to be seen. He showed the presence and "oomph", for lack of a better word, necessary his motions, a far cry from his usually reserved personality. He repeated the routine a few times, and even struck a small pose at the very end. Of course, his face was a bit red the whole time.

"Woohoo!" Mina clapped vigorously. "Nice moves!"

"Haha… Th-Thanks." Izuku rubbed the back of his head, looking to his side. "I mean, they're really simple like you said…"

"Yeah, but still. Compared to how you were when we first started, it was awesome!" It was more how he performed the moves that had her cheering. Again, the confidence on display for those few moments was great to see. "Anyways, today we're going to go over some floor moves. Basic windmills and stuff."

Her plan was to have Izuku build up enough of the more general techniques that he could eventually start forming his own styles and routines. It would most certainly take time to get him to that point, but as long as he continued to show this fiery passion he seemed to have developed, she would be more than happy to teach him.

Because she could tell this was more than just a fun way to pass the time for her friend. This was a way for him to open up a little, to come out of that shell he had built up around himself. Even if he himself didn't realize it.

* * *

Yes I know, a really short chapter after such a long wait. Simply couldn't think of much more to add without repeating myself.

I'm hoping to get updates out more frequently, but I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. I have more of a plan for the rest of the story now though, so there's that. See you next time!


	5. Izuku's Day Out

Alright, managed to get this one out much faster. Progress!

* * *

Sundays had always been strange days for Izuku. While most people his age utilized their weekly day off from school to do things like spend time with friends, finish homework that had been put off, or just catch up on sleep, things were quite different at the Midoriya household. Obviously Izuku never had any friends to hang out with, and he was never one to leave things until the last minute.

Sometimes he spent his Sundays helping his mom with errands or going somewhere fun with her. Other times he'd go do "field research" on some of the local heroes. If the weather was crummy, he might just stay inside reading up on recent hero-related news or reading comics.

He did anything to distract himself from how depressing his life was. No Quirk, no friends, constant fear of torment from Bakugou and others… School at least kept his mind busy. Sundays were when the reality of his situation could really start to set in.

This was all before that fateful day with All Might, of course. Ever since then, Sundays were no longer something the Quirk inheritor dreaded.

That being said, he still found it difficult to find things to do. The few friends he had made tended to be pretty busy even on their days off from U.A. And after years of social seclusion, trying to initiate conversation to make plans with someone was like pulling teeth.

All this was why Izuku was trying to decide how to spend his afternoon today. He had spent the morning doing a rigorous workout, and he had finished what little school work he had. His mom was out, and there wasn't really any news in the world of heroes.

For some reason, he was feeling restless. Staying inside reading comics or watching videos all day was simply not an option right now. But at the same time, going out alone wasn't exactly a fun idea either. Where would he even go? Anywhere fun was bound to be crowded today, and the shy boy wasn't too keen on dealing with large groups of strangers.

Pulling out his phone, the bored student looked through his pitifully small contact list. Why was it so hard for him to just invite someone out? Part of the problem was, he supposed, that he couldn't ever think of anything fun to do. Hero watching was one of his favorite past times, but something told him his friends wouldn't be as into that sort of thing. He'd hate to be the only one enjoying himself.

When he saw Mina's name on the list, though, something did come to mind.

"Maybe Ashido would want to… No." Shaking his head, Izuku quickly second guessed himself. Part of him wanted to see if she was up for another dance lesson, but he didn't want to seem like a pest. They'd actually wound up meeting yesterday for an extra-long session due to not having any school the following day. This would be the third day in a row.

It was just so much fun though…

He could obviously just practice on his own; Mina had given him plenty to work on the past two days. However, he actually found dancing easier with his pink instructor present. It seemed strange, as one would think the timid student would prefer solitude, but something about Mina just made him feel more comfortable with the whole thing. Her constant encouragement really helped him feel better about his skills (or lack thereof), and all her energy and cheerfulness rubbed off on him a bit.

That said, practicing alone wasn't impossible for him. He just tended to have to stop and try to remind himself that he wasn't completely terrible, and unlike Mina he wasn't very good at pep talks.

But again, asking to meet three days straight was probably too much. He didn't want to annoy his new friend. She had been incredibly patient with him up until this point, but everyone had a limit.

Just as he was about to put his phone away, however, it suddenly buzzed in his hand. A notification popped up to indicate he had received a text.

It was Mina.

A bit weirded out by the convenient timing of the message, Izuku opened it up.

" _hey dude u free? getting a group together 2 hang out"_

It took him a second to realize he had just been invited out.

He started to type out a response, but hesitated. Was this a good idea? How many people were going? Would her other friends feel like he was intruding? Would he get along with them, or would they just see him as annoying?

Izuku shook his head quickly. Why did he feel the need to overthink and second guess _everything_? Surely Mina wouldn't have invited him without making sure her other friends were okay with it. Besides, chances were good they were people he knew.

" _Sure, thanks for asking! Where are we going, and what time should I be there?"_

" _AWESOME! ^_^ ever been 2 the kiysashi ward mall? thinking of meeting there around 1ish"_

The stark contrast between the way the two teens texted amused Izuku somewhat. Mina somehow found a way to show her excited-yet-laid-back personality through the way she typed things, a feat he couldn't help but be a little impressed by.

" _I've been there a couple times with my mom. See you there?"_

" _yep c u!"_

* * *

The Kiyashi mall was about as busy as Izuku expected. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around him, the introvert sat on a bench, fidgeting slightly as he waited for the others to arrive.

Though it was a day off, U.A.'s work load meant it could be difficult for its hero students to spend an afternoon goofing off; the fact that Izuku had gotten enough work done ahead of time to even be here was something of an anomaly. As such, the group he was meeting up with was somewhat small. In addition to Mina, Tooru Hagakure and Yuuga Aoyama would be joining him at some point.

Evidently, the two were pretty good friends of Mina. Though one could likely say that for the majority of the class. Izuku personally didn't know them all that well (though Aoyama tended to try to make sure _everyone_ knew who he was). On one hand, he was glad to get a chance to spend some time with people outside the little friend group he had formed. On the other, his social anxiety was already starting to kick in a little. What did they think of him, exactly? How would their opinions of him change after hanging out like this? His shyness, his mumbling, his tendency to freak out over nothing… Would they think less of him because of it?

The boy shut his eyes, taking a deep breath as he tried to clear his mind a bit. He knew he was worrying too much. Things were different now; not everyone in his life looked down on him now. Aoyama and Hagakure seemed like friendly sorts, and like much of 1A seemed to have some level of admiration for their bone-breaking classmate.

Before long, Izuku spotted a pair of familiar faces alongside a floating set of clothes heading his way. It was a bit strange seeing his classmates wearing something other than their school uniforms or hero costumes.

Tooru's outfit was pretty and simple, with a simple red-orange t-shirt and a medium-length white skirt with a floral pattern. Aoyama, by comparison, had a long-sleeved white shirt with fancy collar and frills in the front, and a purple stripe running up both sleeves. His jeans were adorned with rhinestones, as was his belt. Certainly a flashy set of clothes. By contrast, Izuku had the most boring, stock outfit you could find, barring his t-shirt that simply had "t-shirt" written on it (he found it silly enough to warrant a purchase).

As for Mina, she wore a slim-fitting black t-shirt that said "pinky" in (what else) neon pink letters, and a pair of very short tan shorts. Her shirt didn't quite cover her torso, leaving her midriff exposed.

Though Aoyama certainly had the most eye-catching attire, Izuku found himself more focused on Mina's outfit for whatever reason. He tried not to let his gaze linger too long; she had already caught him in a questionable situation once already.

Still, the shy boy couldn't help but feel a little flustered seeing that much skin. It was one thing when the two of them were training at school or practicing dance. Workout clothes obviously didn't cover up everything. But when it was just casual clothing?

Izuku was no Mineta, but it wasn't as if he had zero interest in the female body. His inability to talk to girls had to come from somewhere, after all.

Feeling ashamed of even beginning to think about his friend in that context, the teenage boy quickly shook his head. He stood up from the bench he had been waiting on as the group closed the rest of the distance between them.

"'Sup, Midori?" He was still getting used to that little nickname Mina had given him. "Sorry, you waiting long?"

"Oh, n-not at all As… Mina." Izuku looked at the others. "H-Hey Hagakure. Aoyama. N-Nice to see you guys." He waved slightly.

"I imagine it is," the pretty boy responded, posing as he often did. Izuku wasn't exactly sure how to respond.

"I think he's trying to say 'nice to see you too'," Hagakure said, completely unphased by the dazzling display next to her. "Don't worry, you'll get used to him, trust me." Aoyama almost seemed to deflate as she said this. "Anyway, it's like, super awesome you're joining us!" Hagakure was a rather bubbly girl; it was no surprise she and Mina were good friends.

"Yes, Mina's had a lot to say about you, mon ami." The two got a bit closer to Izuku than he was comfortable with.

"We hear you're, like, a super good dancer!" The invisible girl exclaimed cheerily.

"I, uh…" Not used to being the center of attention, the green haired boy began to panic slightly.

"Alright guys, calm down." Mina spoke up, "You're crowding the poor guy." She gave Izuku a quick wink.

The pink girl had quickly been able to pick up when her shy friend was getting overwhelmed. She could tell when he needed a quick break to calm himself during dance practice, or when she herself was getting too wild. It was strange to see someone being so considerate of his feelings like this. Not to say his other friends didn't treat him well, but the way Mina acted was a bit different.

"Oh! Sorry!" Hagakure backed up a bit, as did Aoyama. "Sorry, I just get a little excited with new friends!"

"I know, we're a bit of a handful," Mina said, looking at Izuku with a big grin.

"It… It's fine." These were certainly Mina's friends. Granted, he did appreciate the warm greetings.

"Soooo… Where to, peeps?" She asked, directing her attention to the whole group. "Personally I'm just feeling like wandering."

"Best Jeaninst's new line of clothing came out this week, and I simply _must_ see what new styles are in!" Aoyama exclaimed.

"Oooh, his stuff's always super cute!" Hagakure seemed on board with this.

"Eh, too much denim for me." Mina turned to Izuku, as if expecting something. "Well, what about you Midori? You don't strike me as a clothes shopping guy."

"Yes, your taste is rather… Er…" Aoyama paused, considering his words. "Well, the plain look certainly suits you, at least." It sounded like it was _supposed_ to be a compliment.

"H-Hey…!" Obviously Izuku didn't think the same.

"Don't mind him. He actually thinks you're super duper cool," Hagakure whispered loudly.

"Huh?" Both Izuku and Aoyama went as they looked at her.

"He's like, totes jealous that you can handle your Quirk breaking bones just fine while he cries about his giving him tummy aches," she continued.

"Now see here!" The pretty boy shouted dramatically before anyone else could speak. "That is simply-"

"Completely true," Mina interrupted. "Come on, 'yama, don't lie." Once again having his pride wounded, the blonde's bravado vanished for a moment.

"Ah… It is true. Your tolerance for pain is truly admirable, monsieur." Again, it sounded like he was trying to compliment Izuku, but…

Well, it wasn't false.

"Uh, thanks." Best to just go with it. "Anyways, um… I'm good with whatever everyone else wants to do." He didn't want to impose. Sure it'd be nice to look around at the collector's shop for some new All Might merch, or browse some comics, but the others would probably just find that weird and boring.

Mina frowned a bit.

"You sure?" Izuku nodded, but she clearly wasn't convinced. Nonetheless, she said nothing more on the subject.

"Well, let's get moving!"

* * *

Mina could never get tired of shopping. Even when she had nothing to buy, just wandering around the mall and exploring was enough fun on its own. Some days she'd leave with nothing. Others she'd buy so many things on impulse she could barely carry it all. Fortunately for her wallet, today seemed to be one of the former days.

The pink girl and her friends had been wandering around for a little over a half hour now. Most of that time had been spent browsing clothing stores that Aoyama or Hagakure would decide on. Mina herself was always down to browse for new cute outfits, and she spent a good deal of time just trying things on for fun. Nothing really spoke to her today, unfortunately, so she hadn't picked anything up.

Currently she was hanging out waiting for her two fashionista friends to finish going through those Best Jeanist products they had been excited about. Bored of looking around this particular store (Aoyama and Hagakure were taking a looong time), her black-and-gold eyes fell on the other member of their little group.

Izuku was thumbing through a rack of shirts, as if trying to decide on something. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to look like. Mina could tell, though, he was just aimlessly looking around to kill time. This was the third time he'd been at that rack.

She frowned. At first, her mild-mannered friend seemed to be enjoying himself. Aoyama and Hagakure wanted to learn as much as they could about him, making him the subject of a lot of their conversations. Mina tried to steer the conversation elsewhere whenever Izuku started to get overwhelmed, doing as best as she could to keep him comfortable.

Fortunately, the rest of the group's peppy personalities did get him to loosen up a bit. He laughed along with their jokes and stories, got to know a little bit more about everyone else, and just generally seemed be having fun. He even wound up trying a few new clothes on here and there.

Now though, it was evident something was on his mind. Not one to ignore problems (other than the ones on her math homework), Mina approached him.

"Hey dude, you doing alright?" Perhaps all this social stimulation was wearing him out?

"Huh? O-Oh." Realizing she was talking to him, Izuku turned to face her. "Er… Y-Yeah, just fine. Why do you ask?"

"You just seem a bit, I dunno, out of it. Something on your mind?" The boy looked away slightly; he seemed to have been having trouble looking directly at her all day, actually.

"I…" He trailed off, exhaling. Clearly there was something.

"Come on buddy, talk to me." They were alone, so hopefully he'd be a bit more open.

"Well…" Looking back up at her, again with some difficulty, he spoke. "We've just been doing this for a while. I-I mean, I did say I was okay with whatever you guys wanted to do…" It sounded like there was more to that sentence.

"…But?" She recalled how he acted earlier when she asked what he wanted to do. He claimed he was fine going along with anything, but Mina had been skeptical. Now she was certain.

"But… Oh, forget it." Mina sighed. She understood why Izuku was this way, but it could still get just a little frustrating sometimes.

"Midoriya," she said in a slightly sterner voice than usual. "Come on. Is there something you want to do?" Izuku hesitated for a second.

"I… Yes. B-But, I don't think anyone else would be that… That interested." So that was it.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Just… Looking through comics, seeing if there are any new ones I want. A-And checking out some of the collector stores for anything." Mina smiled at this.

"Oo, that sounds fun!" Comics weren't exactly her thing, but she'd read a couple here and there. And browsing random cool stuff was always a blast. "Dude, I'm sure everyone would be down for that."

"A-Are you sure? I don't want to bore anyo-

"Stop." Holding up a hand, the pink girl cut her friend off. "Don't talk like that. What you want to do matters just as much as what anyone else here wants to do, got it?"

"But I-

"Got it?" She repeated a little louder.

"I… Got it." Conceding, Izuku nodded.

"Good." Mina grinned, satisfied. Her classmate gave a small smile of his own.

"Th-Thank you. I know you're… I know you're really going out of your way for me here." His smile faded as he sighed. "I… I know I shouldn't be acting like this, I just-

"It's alright dude, I understand." Resting a hand on his shoulder, Mina spoke softly. "I'm your friend, remember? And friends look out for each other." The physical contact had brought a blush to Izuku's face, prompting a giggle from his classmate. She simply clapped him on his shoulder a couple times before letting go. "Now, let's hope those two finish up soon. I'm getting kinda hungry."

* * *

Coming out here was a good decision, Izuku had decided.

This excursion to the mall proved to be a ton of fun despite his initial concerns. Aoyama and Hagakure had quickly taken a liking to him, though the former seemed to almost consider him something of a rival. For what reason, Izuku hadn't a clue. Still, despite how eccentric and at times egotistical the bedazzling boy could be, deep down his friend could tell he had a good heart. Plus, the fact that his Quirk also hurt him made the One for All wielder feel a sort of kinship with him.

Hagakure was very similar to Mina in a lot of ways. She wasn't quite as energetic, but still a generally happy person. Izuku had a lot he wanted to ask about how she dealt with being invisible; so many simple tasks could potentially become a challenge in that state. He kept his mouth shut though, thinking asking personal stuff like that was a bit rude.

Mina was, well, Mina. Despite only really being friends with her for less than a week, the green haired boy felt a real bond with his classmate-turned-dance-instructor. Spending time with her outside of school really helped cement that feeling. She was kind, funny, creative, smart (in her own way)… Just an all around good person. She, like everyone in their class, showed all the qualities of a fantastic future hero.

After leaving the clothes store and getting lunch, Izuku managed to get himself to suggest checking out comics and collectibles next. While the others weren't jumping out of their seats at the idea, they all seemed happy to do it. Again, the hero fanboy was a bit concerned his obsession might cause the others to think poorly of him, but that proved to be yet another case of him worrying too much.

While at the comic shop, his friends actually asked him for recommendations. They were impressed with his extensive knowledge of the medium (though Mina could resist teasing him a bit about it), and all ended up leaving with a couple books by the end of it. Shopping for collectibles went in a similar fashion; while they didn't end up purchasing anything, the group had all sorts of trivia questions about various items, most of which Izuku was able to answer. Rather than laugh about how he was a huge nerd (much), they were simply wowed by his near endless facts.

Thinking about it now, it made sense. Everyone here was aspiring to be a professional hero. Of course they'd all be interested in that sort of stuff, even if it wasn't nearly to the same degree as Izuku. He almost felt proud as his friends tested his knowledge again and again, going as far as to look up online quizzes on their phones. They, like his other friends, made him feel like someone actually appreciated him. Like he meant something.

At this point, everyone felt they had browsed around the mall enough. But there was still a lot of time in the day, and Mina already had an idea of what to do next.

Which is why Izuku now found himself entering an arcade.

Places like this were pretty foreign to the introverted boy. Videogames weren't ever really his thing, and all the noise and flash didn't help. But he decided it couldn't hurt to check out, especially after seeing how excited Mina was about going.

"Alright, who wants to play me in Road Brawler 3?" She asked as they looked around. "Midoriya, you in?"

"Uh…" He had no idea what that even was.

"Don't do it, Midoriya! Mina is a merciless mademoiselle when it comes to that game!" Aoyama cried, playing up his concern.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." the horned girl rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm with him on this. You're… Too good at that one. And you get kinda scary sometimes," Hagakure chimed in.

"I do not!" Mina put her hands on her hips, looking hurt by these words. Izuku decided to simply stay out of this.

"Uh… Last time we were here together you almost broke the machine…"

"Yeah, 'cause the computer totally cheated!" The pink girl shouted angrily. A second later, she realized she more or less proved her friend's point.

"Toooold you soooo." She crossed her arms, pouting.

"Hmph."

Eventually, the group did actually get to playing some games. Izuku opted for ones where he didn't have to face anyone, knowing he'd get trounced. Though he still didn't do that well at the single player stuff. The others cheered him on when they weren't busy playing their own games, at least.

After a little while, Mina gathered the group up again. She was flailing her arms enthusiastically as she did.

"The Dance Revolt machine's open! Come on, quick! Quick!" She then skipped off toward what Izuku assumed was the game in question. Aoyama and Hagakure both followed shortly after.

"What's Dance Revolt…?" Izuku asked himself as he walked after them. He soon got his answer; one of those games with the arrow pads you, well, danced on. Suddenly it made sense why Mina was so thrilled it was available.

"Alright, who wants to go first? Tooru, you and me?"

"Def!" It seemed unlike that Road Brawler game, Mina hadn't earned some sort of infamous reputation with this game. There seemed to be two pads and one screen. Curious how this worked, Izuku got closer to watch. The pair decided on a song, though chose different "difficulties", whatever that meant. There were five levels: Beginner, Normal, Expert, Pro, and Insane. Hagakure settled on Expert, and Mina Insane. Somehow, Izuku wasn't surprised.

The song started, with the screen splitting into two halves for each player. How the game worked quickly became clear as the players started moving their feet. Almost immediately, the difference between their individual games could be noticed; Mina's screen had a, well, insane amount of inputs flying up across it compared to Hagakure's. While the invisible girl certainly had some moves, she was almost moving in slow-mo compared to what her friend was doing.

Izuku was stunned.

While it wasn't quite as impressive as her breakdance routine, watching the pink girl go was mesmerizing for the green haired boy. She moved her feet between the arrows with such speed and precision that it seemed like a blur. She was putting her whole body into it, despite the game only being about legwork, letting herself get lost in the music. A huge smile was visible on her face as she danced like a madman.

Izuku's mouth hung open slightly as he watched her. He couldn't take his eyes off. Just seeing the way she swayed her body to and fro, that look of pure joy on her face…

She looked beautiful.

Before he knew it, the song was over. As the results screen came up, the two dancers got off their pads, each looking a bit winded.

"Phew… Good workout," Hagakure said, her sleeves waving rapidly as she fanned herself.

"I'll say… Hoo… Whew…" Mina was even more tired, unsurprisingly.

"My my, that was quite impr-

"That was amazing Mina!" Izuku loudly cut off Aoyama, much to the blonde's annoyance. "I-I mean, the way you were moving and how fast you were going and all the arrows a-a-and… And…" He slowly trailed off as his brain caught up to his mouth. "I… I mean, uh…" Heat rushed to his face as the two girls giggled. "G-Good job. B-Both of you."

"Aw, you got a fan Mina!"

"Yes, he couldn't take his eyes off you." The teasing from his new friends only served to deepen Izuku's blush.

The human tomato looked straight at the floor, though he could tell Mina was giving him a knowing look. This was just like last time…

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Thankfully she decided to let up. "Who wants the next game? I need a quick breather."

"Hm… How about Aoyama and Midoriya go?"

Izuku's head jerked up as Hagakure spoke.

"Huh? M-M-Me?" For some reason, he just assumed they wouldn't have him do this.

"Ah yes, a brilliant idea. Midoriya!" Aoyama twirled a full 360 degrees and then some to face Izuku, posing thrusting a hand out toward him dramatically. "Let us settle this!" His potential opponent stared blankly at him.

"S-Settle… I-I'm sorry, what?" What even was "this"!?

"Yeah come on, Midori, whoop his butt!" Mina decided to egg this whole thing on. "Show them what a great teacher I am!" Izuku looked at her, wide eyed.

"B-But this is completely d-different! A-And I'm still not that g-g-good yet…" He had to admit, he did want to try this game out after seeing that display. But against someone else? With all these people potentially watching? He had never even heard of this until today.

"Aw come on, it'll be fun, trust us," Hagakure encouraged. Looking between her, Mina, and the still-posing Aoyama, the freckled boy sighed.

"…Alright." Again, he _did_ want to try this. Might as well get it over with.

"Then let us commence the duel!" His eccentric opponent leapt onto one of the dance pads. Izuku reluctantly stood on his.

"If you guys are going to go head to head, you should play on the same settings," Hagakure suggested.

"Very well, Normal it is." Aoyama began selecting a song.

"W-W-W-Wait!" Izuku protested, waving his hands in front of him. "I-I've never played before, shouldn't we do B-B-Beginner?"

"Ah, but you have been getting lessons from Mina, no?" The blonde winked.

"Th-That's not the same thing!" Sure maybe it would help in some broad sense, but not much.

"You got this, Midori. Just remember what I taught you!" Mina cheered.

"B-But I…!" This clearly wasn't going anywhere. "Alright, fine, Normal." This was a huge mistake…

The song started. It took only a few seconds for Izuku to already start screwing up. Associating the inputs on screen with where to put his feet was proving difficult, even if was easy to understand. His brain and muscles simply weren't coordinating, mostly due to the extreme anxiety he was feeling. His rhythm was completely off, and he was missing the pad half the time. He felt his heartrate quickly accelerate as his face heated up, neither of which were due to the exercise.

Breaking his gaze away from the screen, the flustered boy looked around. There were dozens of people around the arcade. How many were watching him completely fail at this? How many of them were secretly laughing at him right now, making fun of how much a loser he was?

Breathing accelerated as his mind was filled with more and more of these thoughts. Old memories came flooding back, none of which were pleasant.

"Midori?" He couldn't hear the concerned voice of his friend as he simply stood there, not moving.

"I… I… I c-can't do this!" Izuku suddenly yelled, jumping off the pad and taking off. He made a beeline straight for the restroom, heading inside and locking the door.

Once alone, he stepped up to the sink, leaning over it as he rested his hands on its sides. Taking a few deep breaths, he splashed some cold water on his face, trying to calm himself before he had a full-on panic attack.

What was he _doing_?

It was an arcade game. Who would care if he screwed up? People probably did it all the time. Everyone was just here to have fun.

Why was he so damn hopeless?

A knock at the door got the frustrated boy's attention.

"M… Midoriya?" Mina's voice called out. "Are you alright?"

Izuku let out a heavy sigh. Now he was worrying his friends.

"Yes," he answered as he walked over to the door, opening it. A very concerned Mina stood on the other side.

"I…" There was a bit of guilt in her eyes. "Sorry, that… I was so caught up in everything, I wasn't thinking…" Izuku shook his head.

"No, it's… It's fine. There's no reason I should've gotten so… Ugh." Mina was really trying here. She shouldn't be blaming herself.

"I just… You were so excited after Tooru and I finished. I figured you really wanted to try." Well, she wasn't wrong. "Look, if you want to go now we can-

"No." Izuku _needed_ to fight back against this. Mina shouldn't have to keep being so wary of how he felt about everything. It was appreciated, yes, but he couldn't expect her to keep acting that way forever.

And this was as good a time as any to start.

"I'm… I want to try again," he said as calmly as he could right now.

"…You sure?" He nodded, prompting an encouraging smile from his friend. "Well, alright then. Glad to hear it."

The two walked back to the machine, where a worried Aoyama and Hagakure were waiting.

"Is everything okay?" The transparent girl asked.

"Y-Yes, everything's fine," Izuku assured her. "Just… Just stage fright, I guess." He turned to Aoyama. "Sorry for worrying you all. Want to try again?" The blonde seemed reluctant for a moment before his ever-present smile returned.

"Very well, mon ami. En garde!"

The pair stepped onto the pads again, choosing the same song. This time Aoyama went for Beginner.

"No, keep it at Normal," Izuku insisted. He needed to do this, for his own sake.

He may not know this game, but he had some idea of how to dance now. Mina had taught him a basic understanding of rhythm if nothing else. He thought back to their first lesson, where he struggled to do anything right until he was able to clear his mind for a bit.

As the song started up, he did the same thing here. All his self-doubt, all his anxiety was pushed aside. Closing his eyes, the novice dancer tapped his foot as he got a feel for the beat. The image of Mina's dancing form appeared in his head. As he opened his eyes, the arrow inputs began to appear.

This time, he didn't let himself hesitate or worry. He tried not to think about anything. He just… Danced.

The screen lit up with indicators to show he was hitting inputs correctly. It wasn't perfect; mistakes were made here and there, but Izuku didn't let them bother him. All his focus was on the music. A couple cheers rang out from behind him.

A smile spread across his lips. He let his body loosen up and sway, just a tiny bit.

Once again, the song ended before he knew it. As soon as it did, an applause rang out from his two spectator friends.

"You guys were awesome!" Hagakure cried. "That was like, super duper close!"

"Yeah, but it looks like…" Mina smirked. "My student's the winner!"

Indeed, Izuku's score was just barely above Aoyama's. For a moment, the glamorous boy looked dejected. However, he quickly regained his composure, bowing to his opponent.

"You are my better in both dancing and self-injury, Midoriya."

"…Um… Thanks?" He was still on that?

As they stepped off, Mina went up to Izuku and clapped him on the back.

"Knew you could do it." She sounded quite pleased. Though he was still a bit shaky and his face was red, the boy nodded.

"Th-Thanks."

Her words carried a lot of weight. Izuku actually felt proud of himself for once today, and it was all thanks to her. She, despite him giving her so many reasons not to, truly believed in him.

And because of that, he could maybe, just maybe, he could do the same.

* * *

That certainly took some time for me. Never written Hagakure or Aoyama beyond a few lines before, so it was a bit tricky. Hopefully they felt correct. See you next time.


	6. Debut

As the weeks passed, life at U.A. only grew crazier and crazier for Izuku. The intensity of his courses and training continued to ramp up as expectations grew. The annual Sports Festival came and went, with the current wielder of One for All getting a chance to truly see what he was capable. He ended up getting pretty close to the top, ultimately losing after an incredibly emotional fight with Shoto Todoroki.

The battle had been considered the highlight of the event. And while Izuku may have lost the match, he succeeded in helping Todoroki deal with some personal issues he had been facing. The two became friends shortly after the festival as a result.

It didn't stop there, though. Next came internships, where Izuku trained under one of All Might's old mentors, the hero Gran Torino. Though the old timer's training methods were unorthodox, they proved effective. Thanks to him, Izuku was finally able to utilize his Quirk without destroying his body, even if it only was a small percentage of its full power.

It was very fortunate timing, as he shortly found himself in yet another life-or-death situation shortly after. The Quirk inheritor, alongside Iida and Todoroki, found themselves facing off against the fanatical Hero Killer, Stain. Together they somehow managed to prevail against the terrifying villain.

Never a dull moment at U.A.

In addition to facing down violent murderers or helping resolve years of pent up family problems, Izuku had begun to develop something akin to an actual social life over the past few weeks. He found himself talking with his classmates more and more and making new friends. He started spending more time outside of school with others.

And while he was still rather shy and soft-spoken, the boy was finally starting to have some confidence in himself. Part of that came from the fact that he was actually making progress on controlling his Quirk, but a lot of it was thanks to his friends. Especially, of course, Mina.

Izuku didn't want to discount everyone else in his life that had helped him get to where he was, of course. Iida and especially Uraraka, for instance, had been there for him since he first arrived at this school. Back when he had absolutely no clue what to expect from this place, or how he was going to survive with what was at the time an uncontrollable Quirk. Despite all that, it was the two of them that helped make him feel welcome.

But it was Mina who had really helped him with his self-esteem. Her constant encouragement was what really got him to start opening up a bit more. And her larger-than-life personality had rubbed off on him a little, and he found himself feeling more and more comfortable being himself around her. Dance practice was one of his favorite parts of the week now as a result.

Speaking of which, his breakdance skills had also improved considerably. While he was obviously still nowhere near Mina's level, he had mastered enough moves to start making his own routines. Rather than structured lessons, things had become more freeform in the studio. Izuku would usually just decide what he wanted to work on most for that day, and that's what they would do. Eventually, the dancing student even started practicing on his own from time to time.

And like with most things in life, he had started to think about how his new talent could be utilized for heroics. He was naturally becoming for flexible from all the dancing, and some of the more advanced moves Mina had started to teach him had given him ideas for combat techniques. He had been secretly workshopping ways to blend all the spins, flips, drops and leaps into his fighting style, though he had yet to try any of it in an actual battle. Not even Mina knew, mostly because he was still a little embarrassed about the idea of incorporating dancing with fighting.

He really owed a lot to his pink, cheery friend. And so at one point, he decided to start helping her out with something for a change.

Mina's grades were… Not the best. Izuku wanted to try and fix that. At his request, the two started studying together here and there. It took a great deal of effort to get the easily distracted girl to focus on school work, but said efforts did manage to bear fruit; Mina's grades started to go up by a noticeable degree. She still wasn't exactly a star student, but at least she wasn't failing classes now.

Again, Izuku didn't want to downplay how much he cared for his other friends. But there was just… Something about his relationship with Mina that felt different. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"You still with us, buddy?"

"Huh?" The sound of Mina's voice pulled Izuku from his thoughts and back to reality. He was in homeroom right now, chatting with some friends while they waited for class to start. At some point during the conversation he drifted off and started reminiscing.

"Thought we lost you there for a sec," the pink girl joked.

"Sorry, just thinking about stuff."

"He's been doing that a lot lately," Tsuyu stated, looking at Mina. "I think he's picking up some of your habits, ribbit." Her female friend nodded, smiling. A few seconds later, though, the smile faded as she shot a look at the frog girl.

"Heeey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." Black eyes narrowed as Tsuyu kept a straight face.

It was true, Izuku _had_ found himself spacing out a lot lately. For whatever reason, he'd find himself just randomly thinking about Mina sometimes. He supposed it made sense; she was one of his best friends.

Though then again, his other friends didn't pop into his head like that nearly as often. Not eve Uraraka.

Before he could ponder the meaning behind that, though, the classroom door opened.

"Good morning, class." As if by magic, every student was suddenly sitting at their desk the moment Aizawa entered the room.

* * *

"Come on, Izuku…"

Mina was hardly able to stand still as she watched the monitors. It was another day of combat training for her and the rest of her class. She and everyone else who wasn't currently partaking in the exercise were spectating those who were. In this case, it was Izuku Midoriya up against Mashirao Ojiro. The scenario was pretty straight forward today; one student played the role of a villain lurking in their hideout, and the other as a hero instructed to subdue them and bring them to justice.

As was often the case in these hero-villain simulations, the bad guy had an advantage. In this case, Ojiro (the villain) had a map of his hideout on hand and could track his opponent's position at all times. In addition, there were a variety of traps throughout the building that he could activate whenever he wanted. Like Izuku, his objective was to subdue or restrain his adversary.

It had been a tense match so far. Izuku moved cautiously and with purpose, never sure what could be around the corner. He had crossed paths with Ojiro a few times now, but the tailed student always managed to slip away after triggering some of his traps. His opponent barely managed to avoid getting caught by some of said traps thanks to his new ability (Full Cowl was it?), nimbly dodging out of the way just in the nick of time. It had more or less become a game of cat and mouse.

While Mina wanted both of her classmates to do their best, she couldn't help but feel a bit biased toward Izuku. He was one of her best friends in the class and, given his history, she really wanted to see him prevail.

He'd really changed in the past few weeks. Slowly but surely, the shy boy had stepped out of his shell bit by bit. She had seen him talking with his friends more often, even if he was still very quiet and reserved. He stammered less when he spoke. He was more outgoing, hanging with her and their mutual friends when he could find the time.

It all really came to a head at the Sports Festival. Like just about everyone else in that stadium, Mina had been blown away by his match with Todoroki. The fact that this guy who couldn't use his Quirk even more a second without considerable backlash even made it that far spoke volumes about his resourcefulness and will, but that fight… It was unbelievable. And this was coming from someone who already held him in fairly high regard.

Izuku was much more than he let on. He had the heart of a real hero, even if it was buried beneath a heap of self-doubt. His pink friend wasn't the only one who recognized that at this point, either. More and more of that aspect of his personality had been revealing itself overtime.

For example, he had managed to go survive an actual villain again. Stain, a vicious murderer known for butchering heroes, had attacked him, Iida, and Todoroki. Somehow the three made it out okay before Endeavor showed up and subdued the killer. At least, that was the official report. Mina personally felt the whole thing seemed suspicious. How could those three have not played any role in taking him down? They had certainly been pretty banged up after the encounter. Surely they fought back a little?

Especially considering Izuku had apparently gotten control of his Quirk.

When the class came back from internships, the boy showed off his crazy new Full Cowl ability in their first exercise. Seeing him finally able to use his powers without breaking something filled Mina with joy. With how much work he had to put in to even make it to this school, how could she not cheer?

There was commotion among the class as it seemed Izuku had finally gotten Ojiro cornered. Now things got interesting; the green-haired boy had the advantage in terms of raw strength, but his opponent had much more refined technique. That combined with the added agility his tail provided made him a dangerous foe. Even with his new abilities, Izuku still didn't exactly have a fighting style.

Which is why despite his superhuman strength and speed, Ojiro quickly had him on the back foot. The tailed martial artist's skills were certainly impressive as he nimbly dodged Izuku's blows, striking only when he was certain he could land a hit. Thanks to his tail, he was able to keep his balance at all times while striking from odd angles and positions.

For a moment it looked as though victory as certain for the "villain" this time. However, as he went to make what looked like the final strike against his off-balance opponent, something happened.

Izuku suddenly dove forward just before the attack connected. As he ducked under the hit, he started to twist his body in mid-air so that he was falling onto his side rather than his stomach. Catching his fall with both his hands, the combatant used the momentum gained from turning himself mid-fall, keeping his legs parallel to the floor as he spun them around toward Ojiro.

It all happened too quickly for the tailed boy to react. Izuku's legs hooked around behind his, just under the knees, and swept him off balance. He did manage to react before hitting the floor himself, however, and broke the fall with his tail and bouncing back to his feet.

Unfortunately, all his attention was devoted to catching himself like that. He didn't have time to register that Izuku's legs were coming back around again as he did a full spin using only his hands. This time, the lightning-cloaked boy pushed off the floor with one hand, now being supported by nothing but the other one, and thrust his legs up and forward. His attack hit home, both his feet connecting the center of Ojiro's chest. Already just barely staying upright, the martial artist fully lost his footing this time.

As he hit the floor on his back, Izuku placed his other hand on the ground again and pushed off with both. Rotating his body mid-flight once again, he landed squarely on his feet. As Ojiro was about to jump back to his feet again, his adversary practically tackled him as his momentum kept going. It was over a moment later; Izuku had Ojiro pinned.

There was a small uproar in the monitor room as Izuku was announced the victor. The tables had completely turned over the course of a few seconds. Izuku's bizarre and unorthodox maneuvers had caught the spectators completely off guard, just as they had for Ojiro.

"What was that?" Someone asked.

"I've never seen Midoriya do anything like that before."

"That looked kinda cool, man!"

As the rest of the class murmured about what they just witnessed, Mina just smiled to herself, having recognized some aspects of her friend's strange movements just now. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised; her nerdy friend seemed to always find some way to link everything he did to being a better hero.

Still, mixing breakdance with fighting? Not exactly something to expect from him. He had been getting a lot better over the weeks, yes, but Mina had never seen a hint of this sort of thing before.

That was the part that put a smile on her face. The fact that she _didn't_ know about this meant Izuku had been practicing it all on his own. Back when the two of them first started these little lessons, the guy had talked about how he didn't feel comfortable trying anything without her around. He needed her for both moral support and to, in his mind, evaluate if he was doing things correctly. She had encouraged him not to worry about that and just try dancing on his own, but it didn't seem to take.

Now though? That was clearly that was no longer the case. Izuku had already been showing signs of becoming more independent during practice; he needed less breaks to calm himself down, he was more willing to suggest the things he wanted to work on rather than just let Mina decide for him… And now this.

A tap on the girl's shoulder got her attention. She turned to see Hagakure next to her.

"Did you teach him that?" While she obviously couldn't see her face, Mina could tell the invisible girl was smirking.

"Actually, no. Kinda wish I did though."

The next two students were called as Izuku and Ojiro returned to the monitor room. The pair was quickly swarmed by the others, everyone wanting to talk about how cool their fight was and what not. There were obviously a lot of comments about the former's moves at the end of the exercise. Unsurprisingly, he seemed a bit overwhelmed and embarrassed by all the attention.

Mina waited for the crowd dispersed to watch the new match before approaching her freckled friend.

"So…" She was grinning from ear to ear as she spoke. "How long have you been working on that?" She placed a hand on her hip. A blush came over Izuku's face.

"U-Um… M-Most of last week," he answered. "Honestly, I, uh, wasn't sure if it would go over so well."

"Seemed to work just fine to me." Mina tilted her head. "Out of curiosity, why'd you keep that secret from me?" She wasn't upset or anything, she just wanted to know what his reason was.

"Yeah, um… Sorry-

"Don't be sorry dude, I'm just wondering." Izuku almost looked guilty when she asked that. He was always too worried he was upsetting others.

"Right… Well again, I didn't really know if it was going to amount to much, so I didn't want to tell anyone until I really tested it." He paused, looking down with a sheepish smile on his face. "A-Also I was, um… Kinda embarrassed to." His blush returned. "I-I mean, dance-fighting sounds…"

"Freakin' awesome?" Mina finished for him. "Dude, that looked super cool! You were all like…" The pink girl proceeded to reenact his moves as best she could, making sound effects to emphasize certain parts. "Everyone was freaking out when you started doing that!"

She couldn't help but be overly excited; this was a pretty big step for Izuku. It had been the first time he'd ever shown off any of his dancing skill to others, not counting the arcade game. Another sign he was really starting to break those old habits of his.

Her little dramatization as she gushed about how cool she thought it all looked wasn't helping her friend's embarrassment, of course. His face looked like some sort of radish at this point. Despite that though, he leaned in a bit closer.

"Y…You really think I looked cool?" He asked in a low voice. Mina stifled a laugh; his tone was almost childlike.

"Of course, you big dork," she answered, playfully punching his arm. Izuku looked away, rubbing the spot she hit. There was a big, goofy smile on his face.

"Th-Thanks…"

This time his friend didn't hide her laughter.

* * *

Izuku tumbled to the ground, barely managing to avoid landing in a bad position.

"Oooh…" He groaned, rubbing his shoulder as he rolled off it onto his back. Sweat dripped from his body as he lied there waiting for the dizziness to pass.

Mina appeared in his vision, looming over him with concern in her eyes. She held out a hand to him.

"This is… Really… Tough," Izuku panted, grabbing the pink hand after a moment's hesitation. Mina gripped tight and pulled up, helping her friend to his feet.

"Yeah, it took me a while to get that down too. Don't worry, dude, you'll get there." Her words, as always, were full of encouragement.

Izuku had decided to try tackling one of the flashier techniques out there: Spinning on nothing but his head. It had been one of the highlights of Mina's performance when he first witnessed her dancing, and it had always been something he wanted to try since then. But since was a very advanced technique requiring a great deal of power, coordination, and balance, he had held off on it until now.

Despite how much he had learned, though, it was proving to still be a bit too difficult for him. And due to the nature of the move, any screw-ups meant he was taking a fall.

"You're starting to wear out. Why don't we call it for today, huh?" Mina suggested. As much as he wanted to protest, Izuku nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… Sounds good… I'm gonna sit down for a second." Walking over to the stack of mats the pair frequently used to rest, the winded boy plopped down. Mina joined him as he took a long drink from his water bottle, also looking tired.

"Phew… Fun day," she said. Izuku jumped a bit as her hand rested on his shoulder. "Proud of you, by the way."

"Huh?" His face was already red from the workout, hiding his blush. "F-For what?" Something about her touch always got him a bit worked out. He wasn't exactly used to physical contact from friends. Unfortunately for him, Mina was quite the opposite; she'd hug him, throw an arm around his shoulders, all sorts of things. She did it with most of her friends. Just the kind of person she was.

While Izuku had been getting over a lot of his old anxiety as of late, girls were still a big issue for him. He didn't know _why_ it was such a big deal, but just being that close to one got his heart pounding and his tongue twisted. Mina's personality meant he found himself in a lot of situations like that when he was with her.

It didn't help that he usually saw her in her workout clothes. Short shorts and a sleeveless shirt was her standard attire at dance practice, and while he was able to keep his focus on other things most of the time, the fact was he was seeing a bit more.

Izuku couldn't deny that he found Mina attractive. As much as he hated thinking about her that way, it was only natural for those sorts of thoughts to cross a teenage boy's mind every now and then. Though he'd never let himself dwell on it for very long. She was his friend, after all.

"Hello?" A flick to the side of his head broke Izuku's train of thought. "You good Izuku?" At some point, Mina had decided they were close enough that she could start using his first name. Definitely a weird feeling at first, but he had gotten used to it by now. Mostly.

"Y-Yeah, my bad. Just tired." Forgetting about whatever it was he had been thinking about, he turned to her. "What were you saying?"

"I said, it was cool to see you finally show off your moves in front of the others. Even if it wasn't really the point." It took him a second to realize she was referring to his fight with Ojiro from earlier that day. "Like I said, I'm proud of you. Probably wasn't the easiest thing in the world."

"Yeah, it was… The reason it took so long was because I was still unsure. But when I realized I was about to lose, I just kinda… Stopped thinking about it." His dance-like attacks had been a sort of automatic response. "But I'm… I'm glad I did it." It felt good finally putting all these lessons to use in some way. Sure it was a bit nerve-wracking being the center of attention after that fight, but it had also made him feel a lot better about himself. Breakdancing had become a real passion for him now, and knowing others thought he was good at it meant a lot.

Which is why he felt he was ready for something he and Mina had discussed some time ago.

"Hey, um, there was actually something I wanted to ask," he said, changing subjects.

"Oh?"

"Well, remember a few weeks ago when we talked about possibly starting up a club when I felt more comfortable with this?" Mina seemed to perk up at this. "Like, Uraraka and a couple others seemed interested in learning."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying." She was bouncing up and down a bit.

"…Yes. I think I'm ready now." He remembered feeling guilty that his own insecurity meant his friends couldn't have this experience. Today showed that he was clearly passed that. "I mean, you did tell Uraraka we'd eventually-

"AWESOME!" Mina's excitement reached a boiling point as she leapt to her feet, all signs of exhaustion vanishing from her person. "We can tell the whole class tomorrow! Oh, oh, we can put up posters around the whole school! With stickers! And glitter!"

"Uh, M-Mina…?"

"Maybe whoever's in charge of setting up clubs is still at school!" The pink little ball of energy grabbed her friend, yanking him to his feet. "Come on, let's go see!" She started tugging Izuku along as she hurried out the studio door.

"W-Wait! Mina, wait!"

* * *

Felt a time jump was appropriate at this point. Dwelling too much on the learning stuff might have gotten repetitive.

Anyway, seems Izuku is starting to feel more comfortable with himself. Yet he still can't help but feel nervous about Mina every so often, hm… We'll see where that leads soon enough.


	7. Got a Feeling so Complicated

Mina could hardly stand still.

"Any minute now… Ohmygosh I can't wait!" Looking a bit more hyper than usual, the horned girl bounced a bit on the balls of her feet, a huge smile on her face. She turned to her friend. "How many people do you think will show up? What if we get, like, fifty members? You think we can even fit that many people in here? I know there was limit, but-

"Um, Mina?" Izuku cut her off. Realizing she was motor-mouthing a bit, his classmate took a second to compose herself.

"Right. Sorry. Getting a bit too excited."

"I-It's okay. I'm really looking forward to this too," he assured her.

The dancing duo was once again back at the studio, all set up for more practice. However, this wasn't just another one of their usual lessons; today was something of a special occasion.

It was the first meeting of U.A. Breakdancing Club.

It hadn't taken too much for the pair to get this idea up and running. When Izuku had expressed interesting in starting the club last week, Mina literally dragged him to principal Nedzu's office to learn how to start a club. There wasn't that much to it; all they needed was a teacher who would be willing to serve as a club advisor, and a minimum of five guaranteed members.

Getting three others on board was easy. While a good portion of their class declined for one reason or another, Uraraka, Aoyama, and Hagakure were all more than willing to join. As for the advisor, both Izuku and Mina agreed on the obvious choice: Present Mic. Unsurprisingly, the musical hero was extremely supportive of the idea. He agreed to advise the club almost instantly.

Once that was out of the way, all that was left was advertising. The two spent some time after school making flyers (Izuku having to talk Mina out of coating them all in glitter) and posting them around campus. They had decided to make the club meet on Saturdays, as that was the day that worked best for everyone.

And so the two students patiently, or impatiently, waited for the others to show up. Neither of them was sure how many more members to expect; the club did have a twenty five-person limit, despite Mina's earlier statements. Probably for the best; too many people would be impossible to manage for the two of them. And that wasn't even getting into the fact that Izuku didn't do so well with big crowds.

Still, the fact that he was willing to even do this was a testament to how much he'd changed over the last month or so. Though he was obviously still a bit nervous about the whole thing, of course. Mina couldn't help but feel a little anxious herself, to be honest. Teaching a group was going to be very different from these one-on-ones she and Izuku had been having.

It wasn't long until the first member walked through the door.

"Ochako!" Mina rushed forward and pulled her friend into a tight hug, as if they hadn't just seen each other about 20 minutes ago. The brunette was caught a bit off guard by the zealous gesture.

"Hi… Mina…" She gasped as was caught in the vice-like hug.

"M-Mina, I don't think she can breathe…" Izuku said quietly. Realizing she'd gotten carried away again, the pink girl turned a bit lilac as she released Uraraka.

"Haha… Sorry, just, you know." She had never been good at holding in her emotions, and she was particularly happy today.

"It's okay, I'm pretty used to that sort of thing by now," the other girl joked, nodding toward Izuku in greeting. She looked around. "Oh, am I the first one here?"

"Looks like it. Though Tooru could be here and we'd never know," Mina mused.

"I don't just walk around naked, you know," another voice called out as a floating set of gym clothes entered the studio.

"Well there was that one time…" Uraraka mumbled.

"HEY! We agreed never to talk about that!"

"Oops! S-Sorry!" The brunette's normally rosy cheeks turned even brighter as she held a hand to her mouth. Mina simply laughed at the exchange before noticing Izuku's face flaring up.

"What's up, Izuku?" A smirk crossed her lips. "Don't like being alone with all these cute girls~?" The question only served to intensify the boy's blush, much to his friend's amusement.

"Ng…" A small, high-pitched noise was all that came out of him. Mina laughed heartily, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Relax, buddy. Just messing around." She knew just how to push Izuku's buttons when she wanted to. While she made a concerted effort to be considerate toward his anxiety, she also wanted to treat him like any of her other friends. Coddling him and treating him like some fragile object forever would only make things worse for him.

Plus, she just found flustered Izuku super cute.

The group chatted a bit more, the one male member slowly calming down after a while. A few more students trickled in, most of whom Mina had never seen before. They were from a mix of the General Studies and Support classes, though one member of the other Hero class, 1B, had shown up. Aoyama eventually made his "fashionably late", as he put it, appearance as well.

Things got problematic, though, when another pair of familiar faces walked in.

"Alright, found it," Mineta said, looking up at Kaminari. "And you wanted to go _left_."

"Oh shut it. Look, this place is-

"No."

The two looked at Mina, who was glaring at them with her arms crossed.

"What do you mean-

"I mean no. Out." She pointed at the door.

"Hey!" Mineta immediately went on the defensive. "We're just here to join the club! You can't just-

"No you're not." The fact that the grape-themed student was so ready with that was very telling.

"Hey come on Ashido, give us a break. We signed up and everything," Kaminari whined. The rest of the club decided to stay out of this.

"You guys think I'm stupid or something?" Mina was not in the mood.

"Well-Mmph!" A hand was shoved over Mineta's mouth before he could finish that sentence. Pulling it away, he started flailing his arms. "Look, we're not just here to stare at butts okay!? Well, maybe Kaminari is, but I'm not!"

"Hey!"

"Dancing's, like, a great way to meet ladies!" The perverted midget continued. "Come ooooon, please?"

"Oh my god…" Mina pinched her temples, shaking her head. She then turned to Izuku. "You buying this?"

"Well…" The green-haired boy looked at his lecherous classmates, then back to Mina. "I… I don't think it's really fair to throw them out. I mean, they signed up right?"

"Yes!" Mineta cheered as he and Kaminari each did a fist pump.

"Izuku, are you sure-

"But." His voice suddenly grew uncharacteristically stern as he shot a hard look at the two. "You guys _need_ to be serious about this. If you're really just here to… To… Stare, then you shouldn't be here."

There was a brief silence. Mina was a bit surprised to hear Izuku talk that way, but she was in complete agreement.

"…Alright, alright." Kaminari held up his hands, sighing. "Forget it." Without another word, he stepped out of the room. Mineta, though, held his ground.

"What?" He asked as the two club runners stared at him. "He might not have been serious, but I sure am." Mina and Izuku looked at each other with slight shock. If anything, they probably both expected Mineta to leave and Kaminari to stay.

"…Fine." Still a bit skeptical of the shrimp's motives, Mina gave him another glare. "But I swear, if I catch you doing anything…"

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Rubbing his hands together, the purple-topped boy smiled to himself. "I'm gonna be such a chick magnet after this…"

Overall there were twelve people including Izuku and Mina. Not a full house, but not a small amount either. After waiting a few minutes to see if anyone else would show, the club leader decided to get started.

"Alrighty!" Clapping her hands together, Mina beamed. "Welcome, everyone!"

Overall it proved to be a fun if not hectic first meeting. Introductions were made before Mina gave a small demonstration to whet everyone's appetite. Izuku then gave a small lecture of sorts explaining the basic terms and structure of breakdance, a segment he had been insistent on adding when he and Mina had been planning things out. Of course, he was really the only one who found it remotely interesting.

Once that was over (Mina having to cut the lecture off early), the rest of the meeting was spent teaching the new club members the basics. The two instructors started with the same 3-step routine Izuku had learned, building from there. For the most part, the group was able to get a quick grasp of the moves; nobody needed to be pulled aside and given a pep talk like Izuku did during that first lesson. It was a little difficult getting everyone to stay focused, especially since Mina was the one running things, but with a little help from her so-called vice president things were able to stay relatively on track.

"Oh wow, where does the time go?" The club president looked at the clock, realizing they were out of time. "Okay, that about does it for today. Great work everyone! You were all super duper awesome!" Judging by their reactions, everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves. "See you all next week!"

The students dispersed for the day, going to the locker rooms to change.

* * *

Izuku dried some sweat off with a towel as he took off his gym clothes. He wasn't actually all that tired; being an introductory meeting, there hadn't actually been a ton of dancing today. And what they did practice was all beginner stuff.

It wasn't the workout that had gotten him all sweaty as much as it was nerves. Being one of the club's instructors, he had to talk a _lot_. Whether it was to explain something to a member, or help someone who wasn't quite getting something down, or just demonstrate a move… Mina couldn't do that all herself. It didn't help that about half the club members were complete strangers to Izuku. They didn't know about all his weird little mannerisms like his friends did. He had been fearful of making a bad first impression.

Still, he had grown a lot since he entered U.A. Despite his worries, he managed to get through the first meeting without losing his composure. Mina being by his side helped immensely; not only was she able to handle the bulk of the talking, but her presence alone was enough to give him that little boost.

He was actually a bit surprised by how much everyone enjoyed themselves. Hagakure seemed to get the hang of things pretty quickly, and Aoyama's dramatic personality was a good fit for this style of dance. Uraraka had a little more trouble picking up the basics, though she was clearly having a blast despite that. Heck, even Mineta-

"Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya."

Izuku turned toward the voice, seeing his shortest classmate leaning against the locker next to him, looking at him with his arms crossed. He had apparently changed already, dressed in a purple shirt and tan shorts. There was a suspicious look in his eyes as he smiled wryly at the taller boy.

"Uh… Hey, Mineta." Not exactly comfortable with the look he was receiving, Izuku continued to change. "You, uh, like the club?"

"Oh yeah for sure, it was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting." The shrimp paused, chuckling. "But uh, I bet those 'private lessons' are way more fun, huh?"

"Huh?" Confused, Izuku looked down at him. "What do you mean?" In a way, he supposed they _were_ more fun, but…

"Aw don't be like that man. You know exactly what I mean." He got a little closer, much to his classmate's discomfort. "You gotta give me the details, dude. How far you get with her?" Why was he whispering?

"Wh-What are you t-talking about?" How far had he gotten with her? What was Mineta trying to say?

"You know, you and Ashido. First base, second… Oh man don't tell you you've already scored!" He started playfully punching Izuku's arm, his smile growing.

It suddenly clicked.

"Wh…WHHHAAAAT!?" The taller boy, now completely red in the face, nearly tripped over a bench as he leapt backwards. He held his hands up in front of his face as if to defend himself before manically flailing them around. "I… Ng… We… Gah… YOU TH-THINK WE'RE T-T-T-TOGETHER!?" Realizing he just shouted that, Izuku clamped his hands over his mouth, looking around. If anybody else heard that, they weren't reacting.

He looked back at Mineta in horror, who seemed more confused than anything. Did this guy seriously think that he and Mina were... Were…

He couldn't even finish the thought.

"Uh… Are you trying to tell me you _aren't_?" The pint-sized pervert raised an eyebrow.

"NO!" Izuku's voice was incredibly high pitched right now as his face glowed brighter and brighter. Clamping his mouth shut again, he got closer before continuing in a loud whisper. "H-H-H-How could you e-e-even th-think that!?…"

"I mean… It's kinda obvious man. Like, Kaminari and I have had our suspicions already, but-

" _W-We are_ not _d-d-dating!"_ Just saying the world aloud was enough to cause his chest to tighten. "M-M-Mina and I-I are… We're just f-f-friends!" Mineta stared blankly at him.

"…Riiiiiight."

" _I'm serious!"_ Izuku had to make a conscious effort to not start screaming all this. After staring him down for a few more moments, the shorter student tilted his head a bit.

"…For real? Oh." An awkward silence followed as he finally seemed to accept facts. "…Well, are you going to ask her out soon?"

" _WHAT!?"_ The red-faced boy was about ready to pass out.

"Alright, don't try to tell me you don't like her. You and her are both giving off serious vibes, man."

"…"

Izuku didn't respond as his brain effectively shut down. Mineta waved a hand in his face as he stared off into space.

"Hello? Midoriya?" Nothing. Shrugging, he patted the frozen student on the shoulder before walking off. Izuku continued to stare off at nothing.

He… He liked Mina? And she liked…

He shook his head.

"No, no…" That couldn't possibly be right. Mineta just viewed the world in a very unique way when it came to this sort of stuff. He was seeing things that weren't there because… Well, he was Mineta. The fact that he actually thought Mina could have any romantic interest in a guy like Izuku showed how insane the whole thing was.

Yeah, that's all it was. Crazy ramblings from the class pervert. There wasn't anything going on between the two of them.

Nothing at all.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty normal for Izuku. He went straight home after club ended, helping his mom with dinner and getting his school work out of the way for most of the evening. Once that was out of the way, he relaxed in bed with a couple comics he had recently picked up. Again, a pretty normal end to his day. Except, of course, for one small detail.

Mina.

Try as he might, the boy just couldn't completely get that conversation with Mineta out of his head. Every time he thought he had moved past it, he found himself thinking about it all over again.

Why had his classmate said all that? Why did he have to have zero concept of tact or decency? Perhaps it would have been better to not let him join the club after all.

Izuku desperately wanted to forget that whole thing ever happened, but for some reason his brain refused to let it go.

Why was he so hung up on this? It was a bizarre conversation, sure, but also utterly ridiculous. He kept reminding himself over and over that it was Mineta of all people who made those "observations". Not exactly a trustworthy source when it came to anything dealing with relationships. Izuku knew better than anyone that nothing was going on between him and Mina.

So why did he have to keep telling himself all this?

It was late now, and the sleepy student was now lying in bed. Just before he could drift off into dreamland, though, a buzz was heard as his phone vibrated against his nightstand. Lazily reaching out to grab it, he checked to see who was contacting him at this hour.

Of course it had to be Mina.

"hey u doin anything tomorrow?"

Izuku hesitated to answer. He was technically free, but with everything that had been on his mind he wasn't sure if doing anything with Mina was the best idea. Still, she was his friend and he did want to spend time with her.

"Nothing planned. Why?"

"want 2 hang out?"

"Sure!" He typed the response without thinking.

"yay! ^_^ every1 else is busy, so itll just be us."

Oh.

Izuku wasn't sure why that fact gave him pause. He had spent plenty of time alone with Mina, what with all their dance lessons. Sure they hadn't done much outside of that, but still.

"Oh, okay. What did you want to do?" Normally they hung out on the weekends with a group, so he wasn't really sure.

"u should come over here! we havent ever hung out at each others places."

The boy's chest tightened slightly as he read this. The idea of spending the day at Mina's house – or any girl's house – was a little nerve-wracking to him. But she was right; they hadn't ever actually been to each other's houses. While he could just suggest she come to his place, he wasn't too keen on bringing a girl home while his mother was around. No doubt she'd get the completely wrong idea.

"Okay, sounds good." Once again, he answered without fully thinking it through. He panicked for a split second before calming himself down; why did this have to be such a big deal?

"AWESOME! :D ill let you know when im free tomorrow. night~!"

"Goodnight, Mina."

Setting the phone back down, Izuku flopped back down on his bed. Staring at the ceiling for a second, he questioned just exactly what he just got himself into. However, a yawn indicated that now was not the time to think about that.

Shutting his eyes, the boy quickly fell asleep, thoughts of Mina still lingering in his mind.

* * *

The next morning flew by, and before Izuku knew it he was standing outside the Ashido household. It was 12:30 in the afternoon; both students needed time to get their morning workouts in and help around the house. Mina didn't live too far from Izuku, but it still took some time waiting for the train. He was able to find her place pretty easily, though.

It was an average-sized 2-story house, much different from the apartment he and his mother called home. He half-expected it to be painted pink or some other vibrant color, but it was actually quite plain. The yard, however, was a different story; there was a sizeable garden full of colorful flowers that was well maintained, and more than a few lawn ornaments. There was a lot of personality here; fitting for Mina's family.

After hesitating for a moment or two, the shy boy rang the doorbell. He wondered what Mina's parents would be like. They had to be at least a little like her, right?

A moments later, the door opened to reveal his pink friend, sporting one of her typical warm-weather outfits.

"Hey buddy! Come on in!" Following her inside, Izuku slipped off his shoes before entering the kitchen. "You eat lunch yet?" She asked as they entered.

"Uh, y-yeah. Ate before I left." The house was quiet, something the boy had not expected. "Are your parents upstairs or something?"

"Oh, no. My family's out for the afternoon. It's just you and me."

Izuku's stomach lurched a bit as she said this. Just the two of them, alone all afternoon, in her house?

He managed to hold back his blush as his heartrate increased ever so slightly. Alone… With a girl… In her house.

Gah, what was he doing? He had gotten past this sort of thing by now with her. Or at least, he should have.

"O-Oh, well… Alright."

A brief silence followed.

"Sooooo…" Mina was the one to break it. "What do you wanna do?"

"Oh, um…" For some reason Izuku had assumed she would have had something in mind. "Well, I did bring some of my books if you wanted to maybe study-

A raspberry interrupted him as Mina stuck her tongue out.

"…Yeah, figured." For all her admirable qualities, Mina's work ethic when it came to academia was… Lacking. Her more studious friend had done what he could to get her to apply herself more, but it was an uphill battle. He supposed good grades weren't _essential_ to being a good hero, but still. "Um… We could plan out the next club meeting maybe?"

"Ooo, that could be fun. I've had some ideas for what we could do moving forward."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Well, I was thinking we could all do some kind of demo for the school at some point. Show off the club a bit, you know?" Mina had expressed slight disappointment at the fact that they only had about half the members they potentially could.

"Er… I-I don't know, I…" The prospect of performing for, what, the whole school? Didn't sit well with Izuku.

"It wouldn't be for a little while. Let everyone else learn a bit more, you know?" She paused. "Do you not want to?"

"Oh, n-no! It's not that, just…" The boy sighed. "It'd be a lot of people…"

"Yeah. It would." A hand rested on his shoulder, making him tense up. "And you know what? I think you can handle it just fine." Mina had that warm, sunny smile on her face that she always did when she talked to him like this. He'd grown to become quite fond of it, finding it comforting. "I mean, you handled the club just fine right? We'll get there."

"…Alright." Izuku nodded.

"Like I said, just an idea. We can talk about it more later. Anyway, I also was thinking about maybe doing other stuff like a movie day or…"

* * *

Time passed as the two friends spent the afternoon doing a variety of activities. Once club discussion was done, Mina suggested they play a videogame or two. Izuku wasn't really one for that sort of thing, but he decided to go along with it when he learned she owned a home version of Dance Revolt. While he obviously didn't stand a chance against his friend, he enjoyed himself nonetheless.

She showed him around her house, at one point giving a tour of her room. Naturally, the prospect of alone with a girl in her room made Izuku's brain go haywire.

"What's wrong? Scared you'll get cooties?" Mina joked when he stopped outside her door. She'd been making a habit of poking fun at him like this more and more recently. Granted, she acted like that with all her friends, but Izuku couldn't help but feel she would tease him the most. Not maliciously, of course.

Once he finally worked up the courage to enter, the blushing boy found himself looking at quite a sight. Mina's room was about as vibrant and hectic as she was. Posters for bands, movies, and some heroes he recognized lined the walls. The curtains, bedsheets, lampshades, rug… Everything was a hodge-podge of psychedelic colors, with a bunch of random patterns like hearts and leopard print. None of it matched, and it was all very… Well, Izuku didn't like the word "tacky", but…

This was definitely Mina Ashido's room.

The hyper girl showed him around, explaining where a lot of baubles had come from. She showed him some of the music she liked, most of it being the kind of stuff one could easily dance to (If there was a little more room, Izuku honestly might have broken out into a routine).

Afterwards, after many attempts, the freckled boy managed to convince her to get a little homework done. The two worked through an assignment together, Mina managing to focus long enough to complete it. That proved to be her limit, however.

Well, better than nothing.

Desperate to, as she put it "give her brain a break", her next idea was to watch a movie. The two were currently in the middle of watching one, sitting on the couch together with a bowl of popcorn.

Unsurprisingly, they had ultimately decided on a film about – what else – Breakdancing. The plot was pretty basic for these types of films; the main character was a guy who had just moved to a new town, and was starting at a new school. As one might expect, he struggles to make friends at first and becomes a target for the school's resident bullies (and like most of these films, the teachers obviously do nothing to stop this).

One day a rather spunky girl stands up for him, and he soon becomes part of her group of friends. As one might expect, they all share a talent for breakdance, and the new guy wants to learn. They of course teach him, and he joins their team to help them win an upcoming competition.

Again, basic, but enjoyable nonetheless. Izuku couldn't help but notice some similarities between himself and the main character.

Which is why when the romantic subplot with the main girl got introduced, he suddenly felt incredibly anxious.

Green eyes darted over to the girl beside him. She was completely enthralled despite seeing this movie multiple times. Boy, they were sitting close together weren't they?

Izuku swallowed some saliva before returning his attention to the screen.

Those thoughts from yesterday were bubbling up to the surface of his mind again. They'd been coming up all day, in fact. For some reason he was feeling a bit jumpier around Mina than normal, like the way he would act when they were first getting to know each other.

Trying to distract himself in some way, the boy quickly reached into the bowl to grab a handful of popcorn. Maybe the crunching would drown out these stupid thoughts.

It wasn't until he closed his hand that he realized it wasn't popcorn he had grabbed.

His blood ran cold as he felt what was clearly skin. Slowly looking down, he saw he had firmly grabbed hold of a pink hand that was also going for the popcorn.

"Uh, dude?"

He looked up, bug-eyed, to see Mina staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I have my hand back, please?"

Fully processing what he had just done, Izuku let out a yelp as he released the hand, recoiling.

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, I-I d-d-didn't…" The boy's face was practically on fire as he struggled to get words out. What the heck did he just do!?

"Izuku, breathe. It's fine." Mina seemed more amused by his reaction than anything. "It happens. Didn't know you liked popcorn that much," she added with a smirk, handing him the bowl.

Realizing that gesture had even remotely phased the girl, Izuku slowly calmed down. Worried he might say something stupid now, he shoved some popcorn in his mouth. He tried to focus on the movie again, desperate to forget that awkward moment. Unfortunately, those bubbling thoughts were boiling at this point, much like his cheeks.

As the movie continued, he found himself glancing at Mina more and more. His gaze lingered a couple times as he was reminded of how pretty he found her. Of course, the second he caught himself thinking that he was back to the TV.

These thoughts, these feelings… Where were they all coming from? Sure he'd had them before here and there, but never to this degree.

As the movie continued, the romance plot hit its peak. The two leads finally confessed to each other, sharing an intimate moment.

"Aaaaawww!" Mina cooed, enamored by the scene. Izuku was having a very different reaction.

It was obvious where this was all coming from. He could continue to deny it all he wanted, but he couldn't fool himself any longer.

His stomach began to do cartwheels as reality set in.

"Hello?" A second later, he had stood up and whipped out his phone. "Mom?" Mina paused the movie as he pretended to take a call. "Huh? Right now? Can it wait?" He waited a few seconds. "But I… Alright, I'll be there soon." Putting the phone away, he looked back at Mina. It took every ounce of his willpower to keep a straight face right now, given what was going through his head.

"…You have to go?" It seemed like she picked up the gist of the "conversation".

"Y-Yeah, sorry. Some stuff came up at home." He didn't like lying, but his fight-of-flight was kicking in right now. "B-But, uh, thanks f-for having me over."

"Izuku, is everything okay?" He obviously wasn't doing a great job keeping his composure.

"Oh yeah, i-it's nothing serious." He was already putting on his shoes. "B-But I need to be there ASAP, s-so I really need to get going." Mina looked at him for a moment.

"…Alright." It looked like she wanted to say more but didn't. "Well, see you tomorrow then. I'd offer to walk to the station with you, but I should probably start getting dinner prepped for folks." She smiled. "But thanks for hanging out! It was a lot of fun, dude."

"Yeah." Izuku gave a considerably more awkward smile back. "Yeah, it was f-fun. We'll, uh, h-have to finish that movie some other time."

With that, he hurried out the door. He moved at a brisk pace, desperate to get some distance between him and the house. A maelstrom of emotions swirled in his mindscape as he walked.

How he didn't realize he had fallen for Mina sooner was beyond him. Had he really been that oblivious to his own feelings? Or was he just that good at denying it? Regardless, it was a truth he could no longer ignore.

It was frightening; what did this mean for their friendship? He obviously couldn't tell her about this. Mineta may have been correct about him having feelings for her, but there was no way the reverse was true.

But would he be able to keep it secret for long? He had never been good at hiding his emotions. Mina clearly thought something was up just now.

Damn it. Why? Why did this have to happen?

* * *

Hey the thing happened. How will this affect their relationship? Who knows? Well, given my track record it's actually pretty obvious, but still!


	8. Keep it In

Izuku couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu as he walked on the U.A. campus. This wasn't the first time he had had this feeling of dread gnawing at his insides as he approached the school. This wasn't the first time he was absolutely terrified of the prospect of talking to Mina.

He vividly recalled that other day. The first time the two of them really spoke, and his first dance lesson. Their conversation in the gym about his past, how he had been so open with her about it all, the comfort she provided…

Had this all started then, he wondered? Had that been the day this crush formed? Or had it simply grown overtime these past few weeks? Izuku couldn't answer one way or the other. All he knew was that he had feelings for this cheery pink girl who had come into his life.

After leaving his crush's house yesterday, she had been on his mind nonstop. He had no idea what to do then, and he didn't now. Did he talk to someone about this? Who? And could he trust them enough to keep a secret? No matter what, Mina couldn't know about this.

Izuku had never dealt with this sort of thing before. He had certainly liked girls in the past, but those were fleeting crushes on classmates he barely knew. People the worthless, Quirkless Deku never had a chance with. This? This was something more. Some small part of him genuinely believed he had a shot with Mina. The rational part of him, however, knew that was nonsense.

Still, it was hard to keep that side of him quiet. The temptation to just confess his feelings was there, fueled by this small hope that maybe, just maybe, this girl he had fallen for felt the same way. And that worried him; what if he let something slip? The reality was that telling Mina how he felt could irreversibly damage their friendship. He could only imagine how awkward things would get between them.

The lovestruck boy continued this line of thinking up until he arrived at class. As entered the room, he felt his stomach tie around itself.

Mina was already here.

Just the sight of her was enough to cause Izuku's heart to start pounding. A blush crept onto his face as he just stood there. Fortunately, she was too busy talking to Tsuyu to notice him, laughing about something.

She was so pretty…

Now that he had fully accepted how he felt for the girl, Izuku found her even more attractive than before. Just seeing her smile and hearing her laughter was enough to make his heart flutter.

He mentally slapped himself. Not even 5 seconds and he was already acting like an idiot. He needed to focus!

"Alright, stay calm Izuku…" He whispered to himself. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the two girls. While avoiding her was the preferable route, it would no doubt seem suspicious.

"Good morning," he greeted, managing to maintain his composure. The others turned.

"Morning, Midoriya."

"Hey Izuku!" Mina looked happy to see him as always. "Looks like I beat you here for once!" Unsurprisingly, he almost always arrived at class before her. Thanks to a lack of sleep last night, the boy's morning had a late start.

"Haha, y-yeah." Come on Izuku, keep it together.

It took every ounce of his willpower to hold a conversation without tripping over himself. He did everything he could to ignore that little voice screaming "tell her!" in his head.

He had never been so grateful to see Mr. Aizawa walk into the room.

* * *

Mineta sat on the locker room bench, deep in thought. What exactly was the best approach here?

He had just gotten through the second meeting of breakdance club. It had been a lot more rigorous this time around; Mina, bouncy (in more ways than one… God he loved this school) as always, got right into things this time. It had just been nonstop dance for over an hour straight.

To be honest, Mineta was surprised how much fun he was having with this. Initially he had signed up for this A: to learn a way to impress the ladies more and B: Get a good view of said ladies. Mina may have threatened to throw him out if she caught him peeking, but he had done this sort of thing for years; he knew how not to be seen. But after today, he found it was actually kind of fun. Tiring, but fun.

However, it wasn't just the boobs and butts he had been watching throughout the meeting. Something, else, or rather someone else, had gotten his attention: Izuku. Not in that way, of course.

No, the pint-sized pervert had actually been keeping tabs on the guy all week. Ever since their conversation after the first club meeting, he couldn't help but notice Izuku acting kind of funny. He was constantly on edge, always nervous about something. Like he had been when this semester first started.

 _Especially_ around Mina. And when he wasn't talking to her, he was constantly taking quick glances at the girl. It had been especially noticeable at club today.

Izuku could deny it all he wanted, but Mineta knew exactly what it all meant. Guy was crushing on Mina _hard_. And frankly, she probably felt the same way about him. Why else would she be acting so friendly towards him? That was such an obvious sign a girl liked you. The problem was Izuku didn't seem to get that. Based on how he had been acting all week, he was probably too scared to tell the girl how he felt.

And Mineta just couldn't let that stand.

While a part of him didn't like the idea of helping someone else hook up with Mina (he wanted a bite out of that juicy peach himself), he was in fact mature enough to respect Izuku's feelings for her. And it was his duty as a hero, nay, as a fellow man to aid his comrade in the pursuit of hot pink babes.

Plus, it meant he could ask his classmate to return the favor later.

The question was, how did he go about doing that? He supposed he could just go tell Mina about all this, but would she even believe him? No, she needed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. But said horse was terrified of admitting his feelings, and Mineta alone clearly couldn't change that.

But what if he wasn't alone?

Snapping his fingers as the idea came to him, the stubby student hopped off the bench. He took a moment to explore the locker room until he came across his target.

"Hey, Aoyama." The blonde turned.

"Mineta? What is it?" The two of them didn't exactly talk much. However, Aoyama _did_ talk a bunch with Izuku. They were clearly good friends.

"I need your help. It's a matter of grave importance." The grape lover put on a serious voice. This was, after all, of the upmost urgency. "It's about Midoriya."

"What about him?" Aoyama looked concerned. As he should be!

Mineta looked around to make sure nobody else was close by.

"Alright, you know he likes Ashido, right? Like, _like_ s likes?" The taller student raised an eyebrow, his worry vanishing.

"Huh? Well of course. His heart _sings_ for the mademoiselle!"

"I don't know what that last word means, but good. And she likes him back, right?" Aoyama put a hand to his chin.

"I… Confess, I am not certain."

"Come on man, she has to! Anyway, Midoriya needs our help. He's _clearly_ not going to ask her out on his own. So you and I are going to help psyche him up."

Something sparkled in the blonde's eye. Mineta jumped a bit as he suddenly struck a rather dramatic pose.

"We are to assist Midoriya in the pursuit of love? Excellent!" He stuck out a hand. "A noble quest! I would be more than happy to help, mon ami!" His voice was bombastic as he almost seemed to glimmer. Mineta was actually stunned for a moment by it all.

"…Don't know what that means either." Recovering, he grabbed the hand, shaking it. "But I'm glad you understand! This could possibly be our most important job as heroes yet!"

* * *

Uraraka finished changing out of her workout clothes, still a bit winded from dance practice. Mina really had them get into it today, and while the brunette was happy to have learned so much, she did find it rather exhausting.

Her pink friend had actually taken over the majority of the instructing today. Izuku had been a lot more quiet than last time, for some reason. Come to think of it, he'd been pretty quiet all week. More than usual, anyway.

Uraraka had spent a lot of time with the timid boy, and she liked to think she could tell when something was up. Something was bothering him, and she had a fairly good idea as to what.

Mina.

Izuku and Uraraka were very close. They had effectively been friends ever since the entrance exam. One could argue they were best friends. Because of that, the gravity girl was keenly aware of the difference between the way Izuku acted around her and the way he acted around Mina. His relationship with the pink girl was… Special. And recently, it had become clear didn't just like her as a friend anymore.

And it was also clear that that fact was eating him up inside.

Izuku had been very skittish this week. He was much less talkative, always looking a bit tense. It was never so drastic that anyone felt the need to question him that much, but it was still noticeable to her. The fact that he only seemed to really get that way when Mina was around was an obvious sign that she was the source of his worries.

He needed help. For one reason or another, his feelings for Mina were causing a great deal of stress for him. Likely because, knowing him, he was keeping them all bottled up.

Uraraka didn't want to see her friend hurting like that. She wanted to something, anything to lend him a hand. Talking to him about Mina was, she felt, a good way to go about doing that.

As she debated how to go about approaching him on the subject, she felt a finger tapping her on the shoulder.

"Huh?" She turned, seeing a familiar lack of a face. "Tooru?"

"Hey, got a sec? Wanted to ask you about something."

"Sure." The invisible girl got a little closer, speaking in a more hushed voice.

"Alright, I'm not the only one who can tell Midoriya _clearly_ likes Mina, right?" Uraraka's eyes went wide. What were the odds?

"Uh… N-no, you aren't. I, uh, was actually just thinking about that." The sound of hands clapping together was heard.

"Ohmygosh, it's sooo cute isn't it?" The visible girl wouldn't exactly say _that_.

"Well kind of, but… I'm a bit worried. Deku seems really shaken up about it." She paused. "You think Mina likes him back?"

"Hmmm… Can't say for sure. I mean, I would think so, but it's tough to tell with her. She kinda likes everyone, you know?" It was true; Mina acted like everyone was her best friend. "But then again, the two of them have spent a lot of time alone together. So maybe she's different then? I mean it's clear they're not dating..."

"Anyway, I was actually thinking about talking to him about it." Hagakure squirmed a bit.

"Oh! Oh! Can I come?" She was bouncing up and down a little. "We can, like, give him a big pep talk! Ohmygosh they'd just be so _cute_ together!"

"Uh… I guess?" Not exactly what Uraraka had in mind. But still, having another person there might make the conversation less awkward.

"Great! Come on, we can probably still catch him!"

"Wait, right now?" This girl was a bit too excited about all this.

"Yes right now! Come on!" The floating outfit took off running.

"Hey, wait up!" Her friend gave chase. "Tooru, hold up!"

* * *

Izuku couldn't take much more of this.

It had been a stressful week for the mild-mannered student. It was getting harder and harder to keep his feelings for Mina buried. Their one-on-one lesson earlier this week was the absolute worst, but he'd somehow made it through. The club meeting just now wasn't nearly as bad as that, but it hadn't been easy either.

He stepped out of the locker room, sighing as he leaned against a nearby wall. How much longer could he keep this up? He wished he could just tell her, but the chances of ruining their friendship was simply too much of a risk.

As he stood there battling with his own thoughts, he noticed a pair of figures approaching him out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he saw it was Mineta and Aoyama.

"Uh, h-hey guys." He was a little worried what these two wanted with him, especially Mineta. "N-Need something?"

"What we need is to talk," Mineta said in a low voice.

"What are you… H-Hey!" Without warning, the two grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him off. "Wh-What the heck are you two doing!?" He struggled, but they had surprisingly firm grips.

"This is for your own good, monsieur."

"Yeah, you'll thank us in a sec."

The two pulled him until they were out of earshot of the locker room entrance.

"Alright, this is a good spot," Mineta decided before they released him. Izuku scrambled away from them he was freed.

"What was-What do you want!?" He shouted. The two gave him a serious look.

"We're here to talk to you about Ashido," the shorter student said.

Their captive's face blanched.

"M-M-Mina?" Oh god, now what?

"Yes, Midoriya. It is clear to us both how you feel for her," Aoyama responded. "Your love for her burns like a-

"Woah, easy there," Mineta cut him off before he got too flowery. "But yeah. Like I said last week, you totally got the hots for her man. We know."

Izuku's face had never changed color so quickly and intensely in his life. What in the world was happening? He opened his mouth to yell at them about how crazy they were but stopped himself.

…Who did he think he was fooling? Of course they knew. What was the point of denying it.

"I… O-Okay, yes." Admitting it aloud was a little surreal. "I… I like Mina." His stomach was in the middle of a gymnastics display at this point, but he just needed to get the words out.

"There we go." Mineta seemed satisfied by this confession.

"B-B-But why d-do you w-w-want to know that!?" That still didn't answer why they practically kidnapped him.

"Because we want to help," Aoyama answered, striking a heroic pose as he did. "You must confess your feelings! You can't fight this love forever, mon ami!"

"And we're here to back you up."

"Back me-WHAT!?" Izuku clamped his mouth shut as his voice echoed. "I… I can't t-tell her! Wh-What if she d-d-doesn't like me back?" He spoke in a high-pitched whisper.

"You'll never know if you don't try!" The blonde exclaimed.

"Plus, I'm sure she wants you, dude. She's super nice to you all the time."

"That doesn't mean… G-guys, I can't…" the flustered boy buried his face in his hands.

"Yes you can! Come on, man, go for it!"

"Your heart is crying out for her! Listen to it!"

The only thing keeping Izuku from running was the fear that he'd be captured again. Didn't they get it? He couldn't tell her. She didn't like him that way, and that was that.

"Uh… What's going on here?"

The three boys turned to see a pair of newcomers standing a few feet away. It was Uraraka and Hagakure.

Izuku was going to faint.

"Nothing's going on. Go away, men are talking," Mineta spat.

"We're trying to get Midoriya to profess his love for Mina!"

"AOYAMA!" Both Mineta and Izuku shouted at the other boy. Hagakure gasped.

"You guys too?"

"Huh?" All three of the guys went. Uraraka laughed nervously.

"Uh… Guess we're all kind of here for the same reason?"

They knew too.

Izuku slowly sank to the floor. This was it. This was how he was going to die.

"Alright, Midoriya," Hagakure started. "So I've got a couple of lines I think you could open with when you-

"Tooru, please." Uraraka walked over to Izuku, looking at Aoyama and Mineta. "…You guys mind?"

"Yes," the shorter boy said. "We were in the middle of-Hey!" He started flailing as Aoyama picked him up and backed away. It seemed both he and Hagakure understood to give the other two some space.

Izuku saw his friend sit down next to him.

"Deku…" He tensed up as she gently rested a hand on his shoulder. "You know you have to tell her." He pulled his hands away from his face, looking at her. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down as much as he possibly could.

"I… I can't," he answered quietly, shaking his head. "I-I want to… I want to so much, but… I-I know she won't feel the same-

"You don't know that," Uraraka cut him off. He opened his mouth. "No, you don't." The others stayed quiet; even Mineta had shut up at this point. Izuku took a second to respond.

"I… B-But if she doesn't, I don't… Wh-What if she d-doesn't want to be f-friends anymore?" Again, he'd rather deal with these untold feelings rather than drive her away.

"Deku." The girl beside him squeezed his shoulder a bit. "Do you really think Mina would stop being your friend just because of that?"

"I…" He trailed off as the words sank in.

Would… Would she? Whether or not she harbored romantic feelings for him, Izuku did feel the pink girl genuinely cared about him. Is it possible she would be able to get over that awkwardness that could arise and continue to be his friend?

…And could he do the same for her?

"I..."

"Incoming, incoming!" Mineta suddenly whispered loudly as he frantically pointed down the hall. Everyone looked to see the topic of the conversation herself walking towards the group. Uraraka scrambled to her feet, pulling to now-panicking Izuku up as well.

"Wooooaaah, what's going on over here?" Mina asked as she approached. "I miss something?"

"Uh, nope, just talking about the meeting," Hagakure fibbed. "We were actually about to get going." The others, with the exception of Izuku, nodded in agreement.

"Oh, well okay. Mind if I steal Izuku then? I wanted to talk to him about something."

The white-faced boy swore he felt his blood freeze. His eyes glanced at Uraraka, who nodded at him.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure." He stepped forward, walking off with Mina. Once they were away from the others, she turned to him.

"Sorry, didn't want the others to hear any of this… I wanted to ask you something." The boy's eyes widened. Was… Was this really about to happen?

Suddenly, she pulled a piece of paper out of her backpack, holding it up to him.

"Look! Remember how I mentioned possibly doing a demo for the club last weekend?" After recovering from the realization that this was, in fact, not about what he thought it was, Izuku took a closer look at the paper. It appeared to be a flyer for some upcoming school event in the next two weeks.

A talent show.

He looked back up at Mina, who was beaming. Oh no, did she mean…?

"I know the rest of the club's not really ready yet, but I figured you and I could sign up! They allow for group acts, see?" She pointed out the part of the flyer that indicated this. "It'll be a fun way to advertise! What do you think?"

This girl seriously wanted him to get up in front of who knows how many people and do a dance routine?

"I…" No way. The club was one thing, but this? Especially with what was going on his head right now? Mina seemed to anticipate his answer, frowning.

"Aw, come on! It won't be as much fun without you." A jolt went through his body as she touched his arm. "Please? I know you can do this."

There it was. Her encouragement was always able to get through to him.

…Maybe she was right. He did honestly feel pretty confident about his dance skills at this point. Sure he wasn't on Mina's level, but he could still put on quite a display if he wanted to. And with her dancing with him, he wouldn't feel as scared performing for a crowd.

Besides, it was clear she really wanted him for this, and he couldn't bear the idea of letting her down.

"…Okay, I'll do it." Maybe this was a bad idea, but oh well.

"YAY!" Cheering, the energetic girl pulled her friend into a tight hug. "I knew you would!" Izuku's entire body was on fire as her warmth enveloped him. He kept his arms outstretched, though the temptation to close them around her and return the embrace was so, so strong. Fortunately, she released him before it became too much to bear.

"Alright, I'm gonna see if Present Mic's still around so I can talk to him about this. You want to come?" As much as he wanted to, the lovestruck boy shook his head.

"Sorry, I need to get home as soon as possible. Promised my mom I'd help with dinner." A lie, just like at her house.

"Aw, okay. Well, I'll text you about the details later. Oh! And we should meet up tomorrow if you're free. We gotta figure out a routine." She said this all as she began walking off. "Bu-bye!"

"Wait!"

As the pink girl stopped, Izuku mentally kicked himself. He had said that without thinking.

"Hm? What's up?"

The boy stood there silently for a moment as a million thoughts ran through his head.

This was his chance. Tell her. Ask her out. Do _something_.

"I…" Come on, say it! "…I'm d-definitely free tomorrow. J-Just… Wanted to let you know."

…No. He just couldn't do it.

"Okie dokie. Well, talk to you then!" This time, Izuku didn't stop her as she walked off.

Once she was out of earshot, he hit himself in the head a couple times.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

* * *

The days leading up to the talent show seemed to fly by. Izuku and Mina met to discuss what they'd be performing, working out a routine they could both perform that was still flashy. They spent the next week and a half working on it together where they could.

While the more experienced dancer had no trouble with the moves, Izuku struggled at one particular point: The ending. Wanting to end things with a bang, the two of them decided on a head-spin to close things out. Unfortunately, this was still proving to be difficult for the boy to get down consistently. Still, he kept working at it, praying he'd have it down by the time the show rolled around.

Of course, there were other difficulties as well. Izuku's other friends in the dance club continued to encourage him to ask Mina out, and he tried to do so multiple times. However, he got cold feet at every attempt. The fear of losing Mina as a friend, heck even just the fear of rejection, was enough to keep him from confessing.

Finally, the day arrived.

Izuku had butterflies in his stomach as he watched the monitors. It was another combat training day, and right now Mina was up against Tokoyami. The pink girl liked to think the two of them had some sort of rivalry ever since losing to him in the Sports Festival, though the bird boy didn't seem to agree. His sentient Quirk, however, was more than happy to pick a fight.

The talent show was taking place right after school, and Izuku was already getting stage fright. Even with all the prep he had done, performing in front of a crowd with only one other person was terrifying for someone like him. The fact that he was even willing to do it showed just how much Mina's presence bolstered his resolve.

He sighed as he thought of her. After nearly two weeks of failing to tell her how he really felt, the boy was beginning to feel he should just keep his feeling buried after all. He was starting to get used to the feeling, after all. Maybe it was for the best?

He knew his friends would hate to hear that (honestly, he was just grateful they hadn't straight-up told Mina themselves), but at this point he was just happy to be Mina's friend.

He shook his head. No time to think about that, he needed to stay focused for his performance with-

"Hold on, young Ashido, I'll be right there!" His thoughts were interrupted by a very worried-sounding All Might shouting over the intercom. Other students murmured nervously.

"Is she okay?"

"Oh god, what happened?"

"That was a nasty fall…"

Izuku frantically looked around, trying to figure out what everyone was talking about. As his gaze turned to the monitors, his eyes widened in horror.

Mina was on the ground in front of the building she had been trying to scale, reeling as she clutched her leg. There was no sound, but she was clearly screaming in pain. Tokoyami stood over here as both he and Dark Shadow looked incredibly scared.

"Mina!"

* * *

Hoo boy, that was a very weird chapter for me. Probably rushed and disjointed as hell, but I'm looking to close this one out next chapter. Hopefully it still turned out okay.


	9. Let it Out

Izuku rushed down the hallway as fast as he could, not even bothering to apologize to the students he nearly slammed into. It had taken all his willpower to not just leave training early, and now that he was out he wasn't going to waste any time.

Before long, the winded boy found himself at his destination. He had been to the school nurse many times in the past, but always as a patient. Today he was a visitor. Someone else was just leaving the room as he approached, looking quite sullen.

"Tokoyami…" Izuku could see the guilt in the shadowy student's eyes as he turned toward the voice. "H-How is she?" A sigh escaped his beak.

"...She has a broken leg," he answered, looking down. "It's only a stable fracture, and she's recovering, but…"

"What happened!?" There was a hint of anger in Izuku's voice.

"Ashido was scaling a building. I had to guard the entrance, so she used her Quirk to try to go around me." Tokoyami shut his eyes. "When I saw her, I must have gotten a little angry at how easily she got past, and Dark Shadow just…" The sentient Quirk, as Izuku recalled, was tied to its user's emotions in some way. While he normally had good control of it during the day, little outbursts could happen.

"So you just lost control? That's it!?" The Tokoyami winced a bit as his classmate's voice rose.

The agitated boy took a deep breathe. What the heck was he doing, lashing out like this? It was clearly an accident. Besides, he was the last one who should be yelling at anyone about not controlling their Quirk.

"I… S-Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, I understand."

Not wanting to make things any more awkward between them, Izuku simply nodded at his classmate before heading into the office. Recovery Girl was at her desk filling out some paperwork. As for Mina, she was resting on one of the beds with a cast over her left leg.

"Mina!" He cried, quickly making his way to her bedside. "H-How are… Are you alright?" The bedridden girl yawned as she looked up at him.

"Yep… Doing just fine." She grinned. "Tired though. This Quirk really does a number on you, huh?"

"Yes, Midoriya here is quite familiar with my Quirk's effects." Recovery Girl had gotten up and walked over to the two of them. She gave Izuku a soft smile. "Don't worry, dear. She'll be just fine after some rest."

The boy let out a huge sigh of relief. Seeing Mina acting like her normal self took a lot of weight off his chest.

"I-It doesn't hurt or anything?" He asked her.

"Oh, it hurt like a _bitch_ before-Oh! S-Sorry." The pink girl put a hand over her mouth, blushing a bit as the elderly nurse's eyes narrowed a bit. "But anyway, it feels fine now."

"It may feel fine, yes, but it will still take some time to fully heal," Recovery Girl reminded her. "We'll need to give it a few hours before I can let you go." That was par for the course; Izuku was all too familiar with how long it took that Quirk to fix fractures.

But… Hold on.

"Wait." Mina looked back at Izuku, evidently realizing the same thing he did. "But the talent show is in like, an hour!" She turned back to the nurse, concern in her eyes. "I-I'll be fine by then, right?" The old woman rest her hands on top of her cane, frowning.

"I'm afraid not, young lady."

Oh no.

"B-But we're supposed to perform! We've been working on this dance since-

"Dance? Oh my, you certainly shouldn't be doing that. Not until tomorrow at _least_." She sighed, understand the dilemma. "I'm terribly sorry."

"Oh come on! Look, my leg's fine, I can just… AAH!" Mina tried to get up to prove her injury was healed, only to cry out in pain as she started to move her left leg.

"Mina!" Izuku instinctively moved to help her.

"Young lady!" Recovery Girl was not pleased by this display. "As I said, it will take time to fully heal."

"Well… Can't you just, like, use your Quirk again? I can take a quick nap or something."

"It… Doesn't work like that, Mina," Izuku explained. He wasn't happy about this either; nervous as he was, he had been looking forward to their performance.

"UGH!" Conceding, the injured girl flopped back down on the bed, groaning in frustration. "Stupid shadow thing… Stupid gravity." She looked at Izuku again. "Well buddy, guess it's just you."

Wait, what?

"Huh?" What was she trying to say?

"Well I obviously can't dance now, but there's no reason you still can't. I mean sure, the synchronized dance would've looked cooler, but still."

Wait. She expected him to do the performance without her? Alone?

"What's wrong?" His face betrayed how he felt about that idea. "You're… Still going to do it, right?"

"I... Am?" Him, dancing all by himself in front of a huge crowd. Just the thought made him queasy.

"…You don't want to?" Mina looked confused. "But I thought…"

"N-No, I… I want to, just… I c-can't!"

"Yes you can."

"No, I can't! N-Not without…" He paused, realizing how this might sound. "…N-Not without you…"

"Izuku…"

"I-I'm nowhere near as good at this, a-and if I get up there and mess up-

"Izuku. Look at me." Shutting up, he listened. Gold and black eyes stared into his. "You got this, alright? How many times have I told you not get caught up in your head like this." She gave one of those warm, comforting smiles he'd come to love. "I know you, Izuku. You can definitely do this."

"I…"

"Look, if you really, _really_ don't want to, I can't force you. But don't think for a second you're not good enough, kay?"

Izuku thought back to their first lesson. How hopeless he had felt, how convinced he was he just couldn't do it. And yet he was wrong. Same with that first time he went to the arcade with her and the others.

…She was right. He could do this. It would be tougher without her there, yes, but he could definitely do this. And frankly, he felt he needed to.

"…Okay." He nodded, smiling.

"Good. Now go dance your butt off, mister."

Izuku let out a small laugh at this. As he turned to go, he noticed Recovery Girl giving them both a knowing smile.

…Right, she had been standing there this whole time.

"Uh…" He felt blood rushing to his face. "I-I should let her rest."

"Yes, you should. Good luck, young man," the nurse said, winking. Izuku rubbed the back of his head.

"Hah… Uh, thanks."

He left the room, cheeks still bright red as he did.

* * *

The backstage of the auditorium was bustling with activity. There were a lot of entrants for the competition, and all of them were setting up for their acts. Izuku had acquired the few things needed for his performance, and he was now in the middle of stretches and warm up. He had run through the routine in his head multiple times now, having practiced it so much it felt like second nature to him.

Of course, it still felt like his heart was about the burst out of his chest.

Despite his little boost of courage from before, the stage fright was really starting to set in. Though he was still set on performing, the shy student couldn't completely relax. The crowd out there was huge; a couple hundred, give or take. His mom and friends were in there somewhere (with the exception of Mina, who was still resting) but that did little to comfort him in the face of a sea of strangers.

Before long, the show actually got underway. Izuku's act was more toward the middle of the show, so he had a little more time to psyche himself up. Other students went on stage as he did, performing all sorts of acts such as juggling, unicycling, musical performances, and more.

Whether or not his act won didn't really concern him. He was putting on this show for his own benefit, to prove to himself that he could get past his fears. After all, he had been in much, _much_ scarier situations before.

"Up next… Izuku Midoriya!" Present Mic's voice was heard. Standing, Izuku took a moment to collect himself one last time and headed out onto the stage.

* * *

"Oh shoot, it's starting."

Recovery Girl looked over as her patient checked the time. Mina had definitely been a one of her more difficult cases; the girl simply refused to sit still. And this talent show was making things worse.

"I told you, Ashido-

"Yes, I know. I have to rest."

"Tone, young lady." She swore these students were getting ruder ever year.

"Sorry, sorry. Just frustrated." The old woman did understand, of course; Mina had clearly been excited about this performance she was supposed to do. Still, her health came first.

"I know you are, dear. And I'm sorry about all this."

"Hey, not your fault. Just…" The young girl sighed. "Even if I can't dance, I at least wanted to watch Izuku…"

Her words gave the elder pause. That moment between Izuku and Mina earlier had been quite touching; the two obviously cared about each other a great deal.

"…If I let you go, will you promise me you'll take it easy?" While her leg likely wasn't fully repaired just yet, it should be fine as long as she didn't put too much strain on it.

"Huh?" Mina looked at her, confused.

"I can let you go watch the show, at least. But you need to promise me that's all you'll do."

The pink girl's face brightened as she sat up.

"Ohmygosh, for real!? You're the best RG!" Recovery Girl had already grabbed some crutches.

"Now, you promise you won't-

"Yes, yes, I promise. Don't want to bust myself up again." The nurse helped her patient to her feet, making sure everything was in order before sending her off.

"Now, be sure to… Hey, slow down young lady!" Mina took off on the crutches.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful! Thanks again!" She called out as she waved back. The old woman sighed, questioning if she made the right choice or not.

She had such a weakness for young love…

* * *

Izuku stood rigid on the stage, staring out into the crowd. He had set his cardboard box down, and he was waiting for the music to be all set to play. Looking out into the crowd, he tried to spot any familiar faces to focus on for the moment.

Eventually, Present Mic gave a signal that things were all ready. Izuku just needed to signal back to indicate when to start the song.

Unfortunately, the poor boy had frozen up.

Actually seeing the crowd he would be performing for was overwhelming. His legs were locked in place, and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get himself to move.

Damnit, not now! He could this, he could this… Come on!

Just before the delay could be considered awkward, though, one of the auditorium doors opened up. The noise got Izuku's attention, and he looked over at it.

Mina had just strolled in. Her crutches indicated that she still hadn't fully healed, but she was here nonetheless.

Taking a moment to see what was going on, she waved excitedly to him.

…

Izuku gave the signal.

The music started up as he stood on the cardboard. As he got a feel for the rhythm, he let himself forget about the crowd. About the show. Right now, all he needed to think about was the music.

He started with that first little sequence he learned. A little warmup, a prelude of sorts. Still on the ground from the third move, he starts to get a little fancy and began swinging his legs around. It started slow, then picked up speed as he lifted off the ground on only his arms, twisting and turning his body to maintain balance.

He then did a handspring to get to his feet, continuing the performance with some lightning-fast legwork. Spinning in circles as he danced, he started quickly switching between toprock and downrock, dropping to the floor for a few moments before picking himself back up just as fast. The crowd was starting to get into it, but he wasn't focused on that.

At this point, the dancer was starting to get a bit dizzy. He was twirling, flipping and spinning from all sorts of angles, pausing only for second at a time to hold a pose. He'd hold himself up off the ground using only one hand for a moment, only to "hop" to the other hand, then gracefully slide to the floor and start going nuts again. At one point, he pushed off the floor with one hand and, while in midair, laid his body parallel to the floor and rested his hand on his chin and the other on his hip. He landed on the floor in that pose, almost looking bored. The crowd loved it.

Then came the hard part.

Izuku knew the finale was coming up. The part he hadn't quite gotten down. Still, he didn't let himself hesitate or slow down as he built up the momentum necessary for the final move. Using his hands to rotate himself over and over, he slowly lifted his body into a rotating handstand. Finally, having built up enough speed, he dropped his head to the ground and lifted his hands. Now completely upside down, he did about 4 or 5 full rotations on nothing but his head in rapid succession, barely keeping his balance as he did. When he felt himself about to fall, he braced himself with his hands again before pushing off the ground and, in one fluid movement, reorienting himself so he landed on his feet. Unfortunately, he didn't quite stick the landing as he staggered a bit to one side, but rather than let this bother him he simply stuck both his arms out, stopping himself and striking his final pose to indicate the act was done.

The world he had drowned out all came flooding back at once as a massive applause rang out. He was sweating, red in the face, and weak in the knees as he stood there soaking it all in.

A huge smile was plastered on his face.

Taking a small bow, the performer quietly made his way off stage. The second he did, he collapsed into the first chair he could find. Clutching his chest (his heartrate was somewhat concerning), he simply sat there gasping for air.

"Holy crap…"

He actually did it.

* * *

"That was awesome, Midoriya!"

"You gotta teach us some of that!"

"A truly dazzling display, mon ami!"

"Great job, Deku!"

Izuku struggled to get a word in as his friends all crowded him, congratulating him on his performance. Being the center of attention like this was still not something he was used to, but he was managing.

"You've should've seen that Monoma guy's face when they announced you won," Mineta said. "Guy was sitting behind us going on about how they'd never pick you."

Looking down at the trophy in his hands, Izuku shrugged.

"I… Honestly didn't think I'd win either." While that wasn't his goal, it was still a good feeling. He'd never really won anything like this before.

"There you are."

Everyone turned to see Mina shuffling over to them.

"Mina," Uraraka started. "Your leg, shouldn't you-

"I'm fine." The others gave her space as she approached the show winner. "…Told you you could do it," she said with a smirk.

"Ha… Yeah, you did." Izuku looked at the trophy for a second before holding it out to her. "Here, um… You probably should have this."

"Uh… That's yours, dude." Mina pushed it back.

"But you were the one who-

"I'm not the won who actually got up there and earned it. That was you, buddy." She beamed. "All you."

"…Right."

There was a brief silence among the group. Familiar feelings began welling up inside Izuku's chest.

Hagakure, Mineta, Aoyama, and Uraraka all looked around at each. Suddenly, they all started walking off. Izuku's face blanched a bit when he realized what they were doing. For some reason, Mina didn't say anything as they left.

A few seconds later, the two of them were all alone.

Izuku could feel it. This was it; he had already done one impossible thing tonight. What was one more?

"Hey, uh, Mina?" He started, setting down the trophy. "You, uh, got a second?"

"Do I look like I'm going anywhere?" It was an awkward way to open, but he needed something.

"U-Um… Look, there's… Something I've been wanting to tell you." No going back now; he had to do this.

Mina stayed quiet.

"Um, see, the th-thing is… I…" He gulped, twiddling his thumbs together. "Um, I, uh, um, I-I… L-L…L…"

For a moment, all his fears from before flashed in his mind. All the things that could go wrong if he said this. This time, however, he ignored them.

"I L… L… Ilikeyou." It was barely a whisper.

"Say again?" Oh god. Come on, just be a little louder

"I LIKE YOU!"

…

Resembling some kind of human tomato, Izuku shoved his hands over his mouth. He just screamed that for the world to hear.

God, this had to be the most awkward confession in history. He shut his eyes, waiting for whatever her response was. Knowing her, she'd try to let him down gently, lead with how great a friend she was-

"I know."

Huh?

The tomato boy opened his eyes. That was not exactly the response he had been expecting.

"S-Sorry?"

"I said, I know." She had a playful smile. "Like, I've kind known for weeks, dude." A giggle escaped her as Izuku's eyes bugged out.

She knew!? All this time!?

"Wha… Buh… Ng…" He quickly shook his head. "B-But then wh-wh-why didn't y-y-you s-say anything?"

"Because I wanted to wait for you to tell me yourself," was her answer. She took another step, further closing the distance between them. "Figured you'd work up the guts to do it eventually… But man, you really know how to keep a girl waiting."

"I… Wha?" Wait, what did she mean by that. "W-Waiting…? Why were you-

"Dude, I like you too." There was a hint of lilac in the girl's cheeks as she said this. "I just… Wanted to hear you say it first."

…

…

…

"Uh, dude?" Mina snapped her fingers in the boy's face a few times. "Helloooooo?" Izuku suddenly came back to life.

Boy, that was a weird dream. He'd confessed to Mina, and she'd actually said she…

Wait.

Looking around, he realized he wasn't in bed.

…This wasn't a dream.

"Y…You do!?" Mina let out another adorable giggle.

"Of course, silly." She poked his nose a few times, clearly a bit nervous about this all herself. Izuku could feel himself grinning from ear to ear.

She liked him. She _actually_ liked him.

Riding a bit of an emotional high, he suddenly leaned in, puckering his lips. However, a hand stopped his advance.

"Woah there, buddy! We haven't even gone on our first date yet!"

Green eyes snapped open as the boy realized what he just tried to do.

…Perhaps he was getting _too_ confident.

"S-S-Sorry, I…" He wished he had a Quirk to melt through the floor right about now.

There was an awkward silence between them before Mina sighed loudly.

"Oh, who am I kidding. Come here, you!"

Before Izuku could respond, the horned girl grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in for a fat, wet kiss. He flailed wildly as his brain worked itself up into a frenzy.

"MmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMAH!" Releasing him with a loud smack, Mina had a huge, giddy grin. Izuku just stood there in a daze, trying to comprehend what just happened.

A moment later, he returned the gesture.

The two held each other close as they shared a rather passionate first kiss. Weeks of built up feelings between them all came rushing out at once, the only sound the smacking of their lips.

They paused briefly, foreheads against each other.

"S-So, d-does this make us… B-Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Izuku asked.

"Uh, yes?" Mina said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. They said nothing more before returning to their kiss.

Down the hall, a small figure watched the action from around a corner with a pair of binoculars.

"Heheheh… Yeah buddy, get in there!" Mineta cheered.

A hand reached out from around the corner, grabbing him by the ear. Suddenly floating in mid-air, the midget started shouting in protest as he was dragged off.

* * *

And we're done. Fun little story, but I'm glad to get it over with. Thanks for sticking through!


End file.
